N  THE 
JRAPH  OFFICE 

DAVID  HOMER  BATES 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

Class 


LINCOLN 

IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 


LINCOLN 

IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF  THE  UNITED 
STATES  MILITARY  TELEGRAPH 
CORPS  DURING  THE  CIVIL  WAR 


BY 

DAVID  HOMER  BATES 

MANAGER  OF  THE  WAR  DEPARTMENT  TELEGRAPH 
OFFICE,  AND  CIPHER-OPERATOR,  1861-1866 


NEW  YORK 

THE  CENTURY  CO. 

1907 


Copyright,  1907,  by 
THE  CENTURY  Co. 

Published,  October,  1907 


THE  DE  VINNE  PRESS 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

i  INTRODUCTION 3 

ii  ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  MILITARY  TELEGRAPH 

CORPS 14 

in  THE  WAR  DEPARTMENT  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE     38 
iv  CIPHER-CODES  AND  MESSAGES 49 

v  CONFEDERATE     CIPHER-CODES     AND     INTER 
CEPTED  DESPATCHES 68 

vi  IN  THE  FIRST  MONTHS  OF  THE  WAR     ...     86 

Vn    McCLELLAN's      DISAGREEMENTS      WITH      THE 

ADMINISTRATION 101 

VHI  LINCOLN  IN  TOUCH  WITH  ARMY  MOVEMENTS  113 

ix  ECKERT,  CHIEF  OF  THE  WAR  DEPARTMENT 

TELEGRAPH  STAFF 124 

X  THE   FIRST  DRAFT   OF   THE   EMANCIPATION 

PROCLAMATION 138 

xi  THE  GETTYSBURG  AND  VICKSBURG  YEAR   .     .  154 

xii  LINCOLN'S    TENDER    TREATMENT    OF    ROSE- 

CRANS 158 

xin  A  REMARKABLE  FEAT  IN  RAILROAD  TRANS 
PORTATION     172 

xiv  LINCOLN  IN  EVERY-DAY  HUMOR       .     .     .     .183 

v 


214954 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

xv  LINCOLN'S  LOVE  FOR  His  CHILDREN     .     .     .  208 

xvi  A  BOGUS  PROCLAMATION 228 

xvn  GRANT'S  WILDERNESS  CAMPAIGN      ....  244 

xvm  LINCOLN  UNDER  FIRE  AT  FORT  STEVENS   .     .  250 

xix  CABLES  AND  SIGNALS 257 

xx  LINCOLN'S  FOREBODINGS  OF  DEFEAT  AT  THE 

POLLS 267 

xxi  CONSPIRATORS  IN  CANADA 287 

xxii  THE  ATTEMPT  TO  BURN  NEW  YORK     .     .     .  299 

xxm  GRANT'S  ORDERS  FOR  THE  REMOVAL  OF 

THOMAS 310 

xxiv  THE  ABORTIVE  PEACE  CONFERENCE  AT 

HAMPTON  ROADS 322 

xxv  LINCOLN'S  LAST  DAYS 343 

xxvi  THE  ASSASSINATION 364 

xxvn  PAYNE,  THE  ASSASSIN 377 

xxvin  LINCOLN'S  MANNER  CONTRASTED  WITH  STAN- 
TON'S  389 

APPENDIX        411 

INDEX  .   427 


vi 


Of   THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 
\Ufi 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

President  Lincoln  in  the  War  Department  tele 
graph  office,  writing  the  first  draft  of  the  Emanci 
pation  Proclamation Frontispiece 

PAGE 

Samuel  M.  Brown,  David  Strouse,  Richard  O'Brien, 
David  Homer  Bates 17 

Andrew  Carnegie  in  1861 23 

Major  Albert  E.  H.  Johnson,  Brigadier-General 
Edwards  S.  Sanford 33 

Colonel  William  B.  Wilson,  Colonel  James  R.  Gil- 
rnore 43 

Facsimile  of  the  telegraphic  cipher-code  used  by  the 
United  States  Government  in  1861  .  .  .  .  51 

Facsimile  of  two  pages  of  the  last  cipher-book  in 
the  War  Department  series,  printed  for  the  first 
time  in  "Century  Magazine"  for  June,  1907  .  57 

Facsimile  of  a  Confederate  cipher-letter  ....      73 

Facsimile  of  the  Confederate  cipher-code  found  on 
April  6,  1865,  by  Charles  A.  Dana,  among  the 
archives  of  the  Confederate  State  Department  in 
Richmond,  printed  for  the  first  time  in  ' '  Century 
Magazine  "  for  June,  1901 77 

Colonel  Thomas  A.   Scott,   Assistant  Secretary   of 

War,  1861 89 

vii 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Major  Thomas  T.  Eckert     ........    127 

Plan  of  the  cipher-room  in  the  War  Department 
telegraph  office 144 

The  old  War  Department  building 147 

Facsimile  (reduced)  of  the  despatch  to  Robert  A. 
Maxwell,  which  Lincoln  wrote  for  transmission, 
but  soon  after  countermanded 170 

A  duplicate  of  Wintrup's  signature 207 

Edwin  M.  Stanton,  Secretary  of  War  1862-1868  .    219 

Facsimile  of  Lincoln's  autographic  estimate  of  the 
electoral  vote  of  1864 279 

Facsimile  (reduced)  of  Lincoln's  despatch  to  Mrs. 
Lincoln  of  7:45  P.M.,  April  2,  1865  .  .  .  .347 

Facsimile  (reduced)  of  Lincoln's  cipher-despatch,  in 
which  he  announced  the  fall  of  Petersburg  and 
Richmond 352 

Facsimile  (reduced)  of  Lincoln's  despatch  of  5  P.M., 
April  3,  1865 353 

Facsimile,  on  this  and  the  following  page,  of  the 
manuscript  of  Secretary  Stan  ton's  order  to  the 
armies  for  honoring  the  memory  of  the  murdered 
President 374 

Charles  Almerin  Tinker,  David  Homer  Bates,  Thomas 
Thompson  Eckert,  Albert  Brown  Chandler  .  .  393 

Facsimile  (reduced)  of  Secretary  Stanton's  letter  ac 
cepting  Major  Eckert' s  resignation  ....  405 


viii 


LINCOLN 
IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 


LINCOLN  IN  THE 
TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 


INTRODUCTION 


A  BRAHAM  LINCOLN  has  been  studied 
-^"^  from  almost  every  point  of  view,  but  it  is 
a  notable  fact  that  none  of  his  biographers  has 
ever  seriously  considered  that  branch  of  the 
Government  service  with  which  Lincoln  was  in 
daily  personal  touch  for  four  years — the  mili 
tary  telegraph;  for  during  the  Civil  War  the 
President  spent  more  of  his  waking  hours  in  the 
War  Department  telegraph  office  than  in  any 
other  place,  except  the  White  House.1  While  in 
the  telegraph  office  he  was  comparatively  free 
from  official  cares,  and  therefore  more  apt  to  dis- 

1  During  the  Civil  War  the  Executive  Mansion  was  not  as  now 
connected  by  telegraph,  and  all  the  President's  telegrams  were 
handled  at  the  War  Department. 

3 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

close  his  natural  traits  and  disposition  than  else 
where  under  other  conditions. 

It  is  hard  to  realize  that  an  entire  generation 
has  been  born  into  the  world,  and  that  a  second 
generation  is  nearing  maturity,  since  the  death 
of  Lincoln— 

"The  kindly,  earnest,  brave,  foreseeing  man, 
Sagacious,  patient,  dreading  praise,  not  blame, 
New  birth  of  our  new  soil,  the  first  American."1 

The  earliest  date  which  the  writer  has  been  able 
to  find  relating  to  Lincoln's  presence  in  a  tele 
graph  office  is  supplied  by  Charles  A.  Tinker, 
one  of  the  cipher-operators  in  the  War  Depart 
ment  during  the  Civil  War,  in  his  "Personal  Rem 
iniscences  of  Abraham  Lincoln."  He  says  that  in 
the  month  of  March,  1857,  he  was  employed  as 
telegraph-operator  in  the  Tazewell  House,  Pekin, 
Illinois,  which  was  the  headquarters  during  suc 
cessive  terms  of  the  judge  of  the  circuit,  and  of 
the  lawyers  in  attendance  on  court.  On  one  occa 
sion,  after  watching  young  Tinker's  expert 
manipulation  of  the  Morse  key,  and  seeing  him 
write  down  an  incoming  message,  which  he  re 
ceived  by  sound,  an  unusual  accomplishment  in 
those  early  days,  Lincoln  asked  him  to  explain 

1  Lowell's  Harvard  Commemoration  Ode,  July,  1865. 

4 


INTRODUCTION 

the  operation  of  the  new  and  mysterious  force. 
Tinker  gladly  complied  with  the  request,  going 
into  details,  beginning  at  the  battery,  the  source 
of  the  electric  current,  which,  in  its  passage 
through  the  coils  of  the  magnet,  serves  to  attract 
an  iron  armature  connected  with  a  retractile 
spring,  which  pulls  back  the  armature  from  the 
magnet  whenever  the  electric  current  is  broken. 
By  this  means,  as  Tinker  explained  to  Lincoln, 
the  now  more  familiar  dots  and  dashes  of  the 
Morse  telegraph  signals  are  sent  and  received. 

Tinker  says  that  Lincoln  seemed  to  be  greatly 
interested  in  his  explanation,  and  asked  pertinent 
questions  showing  an  observing  mind  already  well 
furnished  with  knowledge  of  collateral  facts  and 
natural  phenomena;  and  that  he  comprehended 
quite  readily  the  operation  of  the  telegraph,  which 
at  that  time  was  a  comparatively  new  feature  in 
business  and  social  intercourse;  for  it  should  be 
remembered  that  before  that  time  wires  had  been 
extended  west  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains  only 
five  or  six  years. 

From  this  early  period  until  the  day  of  his 
death,  eight  years  afterward,  Lincoln's  connec 
tion  with  the  telegraph  was  very  close  and  inti 
mate. 

5 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

Napoleon's  meteoric  career  extended  from  the 
Reign  of  Terror  to  Waterloo,  twenty -one  years ; 
Grant's  from  Donelson  to  McGregor,  twenty- 
three  years;  Washington's  public  life  covered 
twenty-four  years,  Jackson's  thirty,  Jefferson's 
fifty,  while  Gladstone's  extended  over  sixty 
years.  Frederick  Trevor  Hill,  in  "Lincoln  the 
Lawyer"  [p.  262],  says  his  national  reputation 
dates  from  his  Cooper  Union  speech  (February 
27,  1860).  I  should  be  inclined  to  go  farther 
back,  to  June  16,  1858,  when  in  his  celebrated 
Springfield  speech  at  the  Illinois  Republican 
State  Convention  (by  which  he  had  been  named 
as  a  candidate  for  United  States  Senator)  he  an 
nounced  his  creed:  "...  I  believe  this  Govern 
ment  cannot  endure  permanently  half  slave  and 
half  free.  I  do  not  expect  the  Union  to  be  dis 
solved  .  .  .  but  I  do  expect  it  will  cease  to  be 
divided." 

Thank  God  that  long  since,  from  the  Lakes  to 
the  Gulf  and  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific, 
that  creed  has  been  accepted  by  his  countrymen, 
and  the  Union  has  proven  itself  to  be  "one  and 
inseparable." 

But  even  thus,  Lincoln's  national  career  com 
prised  less  than  seven  years,  four  of  which  were 

6 


INTRODUCTION 

spent  in  the  presidential  chair.  Already  Roose 
velt,  who  was  born  in  1858,  the  year  of  Lincoln's 
prophetic  speech  above  mentioned,  has  seen  much 
longer  public  service. 

During  the  last  four  years  of  Lincoln's  national 
career,  even  until  the  day  before  its  tragic  end 
ing,  the  writer  was  fortunate  in  being  able  to  see 
him  and  talk  with  him  daily,  and  usually  several 
times  a  day ;  for  he  visited  the  War  Department 
telegraph  office  morning,  afternoon,  and  evening, 
to  receive  the  latest  news  from  the  armies  at  the 
front.  His  tall,  homely  form  could  be  seen  cross 
ing  the  well-shaded  lawn  between  the  White 
House  and  the  War  Department  day  after  day 
with  unvaried  regularity. 

In  cool  weather  he  invariably  wore  a  gray  plaid 
shawl  thrown  over  his  shoulders  in  careless  fash 
ion,  and,  upon  entering  the  telegraph  office,  he 
would  always  hang  this  shawl  over  the  top  of  the 
high,  screen  door  opening  into  Secretary  Stan- 
ton's  room,  adjoining.  This  door  was  nearly  al 
ways  open.  He  seldom  failed  to  come  over  late 
in  the  evening  before  retiring,  and  sometimes  he 
would  stay  all  night  in  the  War  Department. 
When  returning  to  the  White  House  after  dark, 
he  was  frequently  accompanied  by  Major  Eckert, 

7 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

and  nearly  always  by  a  small  guard  of  soldiers. 
He  sometimes  protested  against  this  latter  pre 
caution  as  unnecessary,  but  Secretary  Stanton's 
orders  to  the  guard  were  imperative. 

It  was  in  the  War  Department  telegraph  office 
that  Lincoln  received  from  the  writer's  hands,  on 
May  24,  1861,  the  message  announcing  the  shoot 
ing  of  his  young  friend,  Colonel  Ellsworth,  at 
the  Jackson  House,  Alexandria ;  and  it  was  Lin 
coln's  own  despatch  in  cipher,  from  City  Point 
on  April  3,  1865,  that  gave  us  in  Washington 
our  earliest  news  of  Grant's  capture  of  Peters 
burg  and  Richmond. 

Therefore  it  seemed  fitting  that  after  his  assas 
sination,  when  the  entire  country  was  searching 
for  the  murderer,  the  first  authentic  news  of 
Booth's  whereabouts  should  come  from  Grant's 
cipher-operator,  Samuel  H.  Beckwith,  who  tele 
graphed  from  Port  Tobacco,  Maryland,  April 
24,  1865,  to  General  Eckert,  Chief  of  the  War 
Department  telegraph  staff,  that  Booth  had  been 
traced  to  a  swamp  near  by.  Thirty-six  hours 
after  Beckwith's  despatch  reached  Washington 
the  assassin  was  hunted  down  and  shot.1 

1  On  April  20,  1865,  the  Secretary  of  War  offered  a  large  reward 
for   Booth's   arrest,   and   there  were  so  many  claimants    for  the 

8 


INTRODUCTION 

Lincoln's  daily  visits  to  the  telegraph  office 
were  therefore  greatly  relished  by  him  and  of 
course  were  highly  prized  by  the  cipher-opera 
tors.  He  would  there  relax  from  the  strain  and 
care  ever  present  at  the  White  House,  and  while 
waiting  for  fresh  despatches,  or  while  they  were 
being  deciphered,  would  make  running  com 
ments,  or  tell  his  inimitable  stories.  Outside  the 
members  of  his  cabinet  and  his  private  secreta 
ries,  none  were  brought  into  closer  or  more  confi 
dential  relations  with  Lincoln  than  the  cipher- 
operators.  Of  his  official  family  not  one  now 
survives;  and  of  the  leading  generals  who  met 
Lincoln  in  person,  there  remain  only  Howard, 
Sickles,  and  Dodge;  but  there  are  still  living 
(1907),  at  least  five  witnesses  of  those  stirring 
scenes,  namely:  Thomas  T.  Eckert,  Charles  A. 
Tinker,  Albert  B.  Chandler,  and  the  writer— 
who  served  as  cipher-operators  in  the  War  De 
partment  telegraph  office— and  Albert  E.  H. 
Johnson,  custodian  of  military  telegrams.  Eck 
ert  was  our  chief  and  Johnson  facetiously  called 
the  others  the  "Sacred  Three."  Each  of  this 
little  company  has  heretofore  written  some  more 

fund  that  its  distribution  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Claims 
in  Congress,  who  awarded  five  hundred  dollars  to  Beckwith  for  his 
part  in  the  service  leading  to  Booth's  apprehension. 

9 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

or  less  desultory  recollections  of  the  Civil  War 
period,  and  has  been  from  time  to  time  impor 
tuned  to  place  on  record,  while  it  is  possible,  a 
fuller  and  more  orderly  account  of  our  unique 
experiences  in  the  War  Department,  which  it  is 
my  present  effort  to  do.  A  few  of  the  incidents 
mentioned  in  this  volume  have  heretofore  ap 
peared  in  print,  but  their  repetition  now  is  clearly 
justified,  since  they  properly  belong  to  any  de 
tailed  account  of  "Lincoln  in  the  Telegraph  Of 
fice."  In  fact  such  an  account  would  be  incom 
plete  without  them.  And  also  because  of  their  col 
lateral  interest,  and  for  the  purpose  of  throwing 
light  upon  the  general  subject,  certain  data  re 
lating  more  particularly  to  the  United  States 
military  telegraph  are  included. 

WE  read  with  unfailing  interest  of  the  wars 
of  Alexander,  of  Frederick  the  Great,  and 
of  Napoleon,  but  in  their  day  there  was  no  elec 
tric  telegraph  or  other  means  of  quick  commu 
nication.  The  events  of  history  succeeding  their 
mighty  conflicts  were  slow  in  movement,  and  the 
knowledge  of  those  events  slower  still  in  reaching 
distant  points.  Even  in  our  own  country's  short 
history,  it  is  recalled  that  Jackson  fought  and 

10 


INTRODUCTION 

won  the  battle  of  New  Orleans,  January  8,  1815, 
two  weeks  after  the  Treaty  of  Ghent  had  been 
signed.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Treaty  of  Ports 
mouth,  August,  1905,  was  flashed  to  the  utter 
most  parts  of  the  civilized  world  in  less  than  forty 
minutes,  the  space  of  time  in  which  Puck  said  he 
could  "put  a  girdle  round  about  the  earth." 

In  our  Civil  War  the  Morse  telegraph  was  for 
the  first  time  employed  to  direct  widely  separated 
armies  and  move  them  in  unison,  and  news  of 
victories  or  defeats  was  flashed  almost  instantly 
all  over  our  broad  land.  In  fact  the  history  of 
our  Civil  War  was  largely  recorded  by  the  tele 
graph,  and  that  branch  of  the  service  Stanton,  the 
great  War  Secretary,  called  his  "right  arm."  In 
his  annual  report,  December  5,  1863,  he  used  this 
language : 

The  military  telegraph,  under  the  general  direction  of 
Colonel  Stager  and  Major  Eckert,  has  been  of  inestimable 
value  to  the  service  and  no  corps  has  surpassed — few  have 
equaled — the  telegraph-operators  in  diligence  .and  devotion 
to  their  duties. 

The  operations  of  the  United  States  Military 
Telegraph  Corps,  as  described  by  Grant  in  his 
memoirs,  Volume  II,  page  205  et  seq.,  were  no 
doubt  closely  studied  by  the  quick-witted  Japa 
nese  in  preparing  plans  for  their  recent  campaign 

11 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

against  Russia,  which  were  so  favorably  com 
mented  upon  by  Emperor  William  in  his  Stras- 
burg  speech  (March  12,  1905).  In  that  address 
he  specially  commended  Marshal  Oyama  for  "re 
maining  away  from  the  scene  of  actual  conflict  at 
the  battle  of  Mukden,  and  directing  the  widely 
extending  struggle,  receiving  telegraphic  reports 
and  sending  telegraphic  orders  while  sitting 
quiet,  like  a  chess-player  who  can  at  once  follow 
move  by  move." 

As  throwing  additional  light  upon  the  work 
of  our  corps  during  the  Civil  War,  the  following 
brief  references,  taken  at  random  from  volumi 
nous  data  bearing  upon  the  subject,  are  quoted: 

QUARTERMASTER- GENERAL  MEIGS,  in  his  report 
to  the  Secretary  of  War,  November  3,  1864,  says: 

The  operators  have  shown  great  zeal,  intrepidity,  fidelity, 
and  skill.  Their  duties  are  arduous  and  the  trust  reposed 
in  them  great.  I  have  seen  a  telegraph-operator  in  a  tent 
in  a  malarious  locality  shivering  with  ague,  lying  upon  his 
camp  cot  with  his  ear  near  the  instrument,  listening  for 
messages  which  might  direct  or  arrest  movements  of  mili 
tary  armies.  Night  and  day  they  are  at  their  posts.  .  .  . 

Senator  Scott  of  West  Virginia  in  a  speech  to 
the  Senate,  February  8,  1906,  on  House  bill  8988, 
said: 

12 


INTRODUCTION 

.  .  .  The  military  telegraphers  came  under  the  imme 
diate  direction  of  President  Lincoln  as  Commander  in 
Chief  through  the  Secretary  of  War.  The  movements  of 
the  armies,  the  secrets  of  the  nation,  were  intrusted  to  them, 
and  yet  not  one  was  ever  known  to  betray  that  knowledge 
and  confidence  in  the  most  remote  degree.  History  records 
no  other  war  where  the  armies  were  so  widely  scattered 
and  where  prior  to  ours  they  were  so  well  informed  of  each 
other's  movements. 


13 


II 


ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  MILITARY  TELEGRAPH 
CORPS 

FORT  SUMTER'S  fateful  signals  had  not 
ceased  reverberating  over  the  hills  and  val 
leys  of  the  North  before  the  electric  telegraph 
flashed  a  message  from  Washington  calling  for 
telegraph  operators  for  service  in  defense  of  the 
Union.  This  message  and  its  answer  are  repro 
duced  from  memory,  as  follows : 

Washington,  D.  C.,  April  22,  1861. 
DAVID  McCARGO, 

Supt.  Telegraphs,  Penna.  Railroad  Co.,  Altoona,  Pa. 

Send  four  of  your  best  operators  to  Washington  at  once, 
prepared  to  enter  Government  telegraph  service  for  the  war. 

(Signed)         ANDREW  CARNEGIE. 
19  Words  paid,  Govt. 

Altoona,  Pa.,  April  23,  1861. 
ANDREW  CARNEGIE, 

War  Department,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Message   received.      Strouse    from    Mifflin,   Brown    from 

14 


THE   MILITARY   TELEGRAPH   CORPS 

Pittsburgh,  O'Brien  from  Greensburg,  and  Bates  from  Al- 
toona,  will  start  for  Washington  immediately. 

(Signed)        DAVID  McCARGO,  Supt.  Telegraph. 
20  Words  collect,  Govt. 

These  are  the  earliest  official  despatches  in  our 
service  which  can  be  definitely  recalled. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War,  the  writer 
was  employed  in  the  telegraph  department  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Railroad  at  Altoona,  Pennsylvania. 
On  April  14,  1861,  the  first  Sunday  after  Sum- 
ter's  fall,  the  Rev.  Samuel  Creighton,  my  pastor, 
—who  is  still  living  at  Markleton,  Pennsylvania, 
— preached  a  patriotic  sermon  in  the  little  Meth 
odist  church,  and  during  the  following  week  re 
cruiting  for  the  army  under  the  terms  of  the 
President's  call  for  75,000  militia,  dated  April 
15,  was  actively  carried  on,  the  inspiring  sounds 
of  fife  and  drum  being  heard  all  day  long. 
My  ardor  rose  almost  to  the  enlisting  point, 
when  I  received  orders  from  my  superintendent 
to  start  at  once  for  Washington  to  report  for 
duty  in  accordance  with  the  telegraphic  corre 
spondence  quoted  above. 

Andrew  Carnegie  was  then  superintendent  of 
the  Pittsburg  Division  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Railroad,  but  at  that  time  was  in  Washington, 

15 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

acting  as  assistant  to  Colonel  Thomas  A.  Scott, 
who  had  just  been  appointed  general  manager  of 
military  railroads  and  telegraph-lines  by  Secre 
tary  of  War  Cameron.  My  companions  were 
David  Strouse,  Samuel  M.  Brown,  and  Richard 
O'Brien.  We  left  on  April  25,  1861,  traveling 
via  Philadelphia,  stopping  over  at  Harrisburg 
long  enough  to  have  our  pictures  taken  by  the 
now  old-fashioned  ambrotype  process;  and  the 
writer  still  cherishes,  with  other  war-tirne  relics, 
his  copy  of  that  old  picture. 

Reaching  Perryville,  Maryland,  we  found  that 
a  force  of  Southern  sympathizers  from  Balti 
more,  under  Marshal  Kane  and  a  man  named 
Isaac  R.  Trimble,1  a  former  superintendent  of 
the  Philadelphia,  Wilmington  &  Baltimore 
Railroad,  recently  appointed  chief  of  the  po 
lice  force  of  Baltimore,  had  destroyed  the  rail 
road  bridges  over  the  Bush  and  Gunpowder  riv 
ers,  so  that  we  were  compelled  to  go  by  water 
to  Annapolis,  sailing  on  the  steamer  Maryland, 
at  that  time  used  for  transporting  railroad  cars 
across  the  Susquehanna  River.  (This  boat,  since 
rebuilt,  may  still  be  seen  in  similar  daily  service 

1  See  Wm.  Bender  Wilson's  "History  of  the  Pennsylvania  Rail 
road,"  Vol.  I,  p.  319. 

16 


From  an  ambrotype 

Samuel  M.  Brown 

David  Strouse         Richard  O'Brien 

David  Homer  Bates 

First  four  operators  in  the  United  States  Military 
Telegraph  Corps,  April,  1861 


THE   MILITARY   TELEGRAPH   CORPS 

in  New  York  harbor.)  She  had  just  returned 
from  her  first  trip  to  Annapolis  with  the  Eighth 
Massachusetts.  On  the  voyage  we  met  Ormsby 
M.  Mitchel,  noted  astronomer  and  soldier,  and 
our  sleeping  accommodations,  like  his,  were  odor 
ous  coffee-bags.  At  Annapolis,  after  reporting  to 
General  Benjamin  F.  Butler,  in  command,  the 
quartet  of  operators  loitered  about  the  old  rail 
road  station  until  we  could  find  room  on  one  of 
the  crowded  trains  to  Washington,  all  troops 
from  the  North  having  been  ordered  to  proceed 
by  that  route  instead  of  through  Baltimore,  be 
cause  of  the  opposition  of  citizens  of  that  city  to 
the  passage  of  Federal  troops,  and  also  because 
of  the  destruction  of  railroad  bridges  north  of 
Baltimore. 

Although  a  native  of  Steubenville,  Ohio,  the 
writer  during  his  boyhood  had  never  crossed  the 
Ohio  River  into  Virginia,  then  a  slave  state,  and 
had  never  seen  a  slave.  It  was  therefore  a  new 
experience  for  him,  a  boy  in  years,  as  he  walked 
the  streets  of  Maryland's  capital,  to  be  curtsied 
to  by  colored  women,  and  to  observe  colored  men, 
old  and  young,  lift  their  hats  or  caps  and  bow 
obsequiously  as  they  passed  by.  We  had  learned 
at  Annapolis  that  Carnegie,  with  his  corps  of 
2  19 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

workmen,  had  repaired  the  single-track  railroad 
to  Annapolis  Junction  and  was  then  on  the  line 
somewhere  near  Washington. 

The  following  account  of  Mr.  Carnegie's  work 
in  connection  with  the  United  States  military 
telegraph  was  prepared  after  a  recent  interview 
with  him,  and  has  received  his  indorsement : 

In  the  month  of  April,  1861,  just  after  Sum- 
ter's  fall,  Simon  Cameron,  then  Secretary  of 
War,  requested  President  Thomson  of  the  Penn 
sylvania  Railroad  to  spare  Vice-President 
Thomas  A.  Scott  for  a  time,  to  get  the  railroad 
and  telegraph  service  under  proper  control. 
Colonel  Scott  asked  that  Andrew  Carnegie,  then 
superintendent  of  the  Pittsburg  Division,  should 
accompany  and  assist  him.  President  Thomson 
acquiesced.  This  was  just  before  the  Sixth  Mas 
sachusetts,  on  April  19,  1861,  was  assaulted  while 
passing  through  the  streets  of  Baltimore  en  route 
to  the  capital. 

Mr.  Carnegie  went  to  Washington  via  Phila 
delphia  and  Perryville,  thence  to  Annapolis  by 
the  ferry-boat  Maryland,  which  also  carried  the 
Eighth  Massachusetts.1  He  had  drafted  from 

1  Captain  J.  P.  Reynolds,  who  served  with  the  Eighth  Massa 
chusetts  in  the  Civil  War,  furnishes  the  following  notes  of  its 
journey  to  Washington: 

20 


THE   MILITARY   TELEGRAPH   CORPS 

his  railroad  division,  and  brought  with  him,  the 
nucleus  of  a  strong  railroad  force,  so  that  the 
Government  would  be  able  at  once  to  take  posses 
sion  of  and  operate  the  railroads  about  Wash 
ington.  This  force  consisted  of  conductors,  train 
men,  trackmen,  road-supervisors,  bridge-builders, 
etc. 

Arriving  at  Annapolis,  Samuel  F.  Barr  of 
Pittsburg,  who  was  made  commissary,  took  pos 
session  of  a  fine  mansion  which  the  owners  had 
deserted,  and  the  entire  force  made  that  ancient 
town  its  headquarters  for  the  time  being.  Their 
first  work  was  to  repair  the  railroad  and  tele 
graph-line  which  had  been  wrecked  by  a  band  of 
raiders  from  Baltimore.  This  occupied  them 
several  days.  Skilled  men  detailed  from  the 
Eighth  Massachusetts  rendered  valuable  ser 
vice.  Meanwhile  General  Benjamin  F.  Butler 
with  Ijis  staff  was  the  first  to  pass  over  the  re 
paired  line.  Carnegie  was  on  the  locomotive, 
and,  when  approaching  Washington,  he  saw  that 
the  enemy  had  torn  down  the  telegraph-line,  and 

"Left  Boston  April  18,  1861,  Jersey  City,  April  19.  Stopped 
over  night  at  Girard  House,  Philadelphia.  Left  Philadelphia 
April  20.  Took  Steamer  Maryland  at  Perryville  for  Annapolis. 
Arrived  Annapolis  April  21.  Arrived  Washington,  D.  C., 
April  26.  Reviewed  by  President  Lincoln,  marched  to  the  Capitol, 
and  quartered  in  the  Rotunda." 

21 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

at  one  place  had  pinned  the  wires  to  the  ground 
between  two  poles.  Stopping  the  train,  he 
jumped  off,  and,  pulling  the  stake  toward  him, 
the  released  wires  struck  him  in  the  face,  knock 
ing  him  over.  He  came  into  Washington  bleed 
ing  profusely.  We  have  always  claimed  that, 
so  far  as  is  known,  the  Military  Telegraph  Corps 
thus  furnished  the  third  man  who  bled  for  his 
country  in  the  Civil  War,  the  two  Massachusetts 
men  assaulted  by  the  mob  in  Baltimore  being  the 
first  and  second.  Mr.  Carnegie  has  not  yet  ap 
plied  for  a  pension. 

When  Carnegie  reached  Washington  his  first 
task  was  to  establish  a  ferry  to  Alexandria 
and  to  extend  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Rail 
road  track  from  the  old  depot  in  Washing 
ton,  along  Maryland  Avenue,  to  and  across  the 
Potomac,  so  that  locomotives  and  cars  might  be 
crossed  for  use  in  Virginia.  Long  Bridge,  over 
the  Potomac,  had  to  be  rebuilt,  and  I  recall  the 
fact  that  under  the  direction  of  Carnegie  and 
R.  F.  Morley,1  the  railroad  between  Washington 
and  Alexandria  was  completed  in  the  remarkably 
short  period  of  seven  days.  All  hands,  from 

1  Morley,  the  first  military  railroad  superintendent,  and  Strouse, 
the  first  military  telegraph  superintendent,  literally  worked  them 
selves  to  death.  They  both  died  before  the  year  was  out. 

22 


From  a  photograph  by  J.  E.  McClees,  Philadelphia.     Half-tone  plate  engraved  by  H.  Davidson 

Andrew  Carnegie  in  1861 


THE   MILITARY   TELEGRAPH   CORPS 

Carnegie  down,  worked  day  and  night  to  accom 
plish  the  task  set  before  them. 

At  the  same  time  the  telegraph-lines  were  ex 
tended,  and  communication  by  wire  was  opened 
with  outlying  points.  Telegraphers  were  in  great 
demand,  and  were  called  for  from  all  the  leading 
systems,  but  chiefly  from  the  Pennsylvania  Rail 
road,  which  was  drained  of  many  of  its  best  men. 
Telegraph  offices  were  opened  at  Alexandria, 
Burke's  Station,  Fairfax,  and  other  points. 

Carnegie  remained  at  the  capital  until  Novem 
ber,  continuing  his  work  of  organizing  and  per 
fecting  the  military  railroad  and  telegraph  ser 
vice,  which  by  that  time  had  been  placed  on  such 
a  firm  basis  that  he  could  be  spared  to  return  to 
his  former  duties  at  Pittsburg,  which  post  had 
become  of  prime  importance  because  of  the  in 
creasing  demands  of  the  Government  in  the 
matter  of  transporting  troops  and  supplies  for 
McClellan's  army. 

The  four  boy  operators,  heretofore  mentioned, 
reached  Washington  on  Thursday,  April  27, 
1861,  and  after  securing  rooms  at  the  old  Na 
tional  Hotel  on  Pennsylvania  Avenue  at  Sixth 
Street  where  the  New  York  Seventh,  recently 
arrived,  were  quartered,  proceeded  to  the  War 

25 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

Department  and  reported  to  Thomas  A.  Scott, 
who  had  just  been  commissioned  colonel  of  volun 
teers,  and  who,  on  August  1,  1861,  was  appointed 
Assistant  Secretary  of  War. 

The  telegraph  instruments  were  in  Chief  Clerk 
Sanderson's  room,  adjoining  that  of  the  Secre 
tary  of  War.  Upon  entering,  we  could  see 
through  the  open  door  two  very  tall,  slim  men, 
President  Lincoln  and  Secretary  Cameron,  and 
General  Winfield  Scott,  the  old  Mexican  hero, 
who  was  massive  as  well  as  tall.  To  tell  the  truth, 
Lincoln's  homely  appearance  did  not  at  first  im 
press  us  favorably.  We  had  heard  of  him  as 
"Old  Abe  the  rail-splitter,"  and  he  seemed  to 
us  uncouth  and  awkward,  and  he  did  not  conform 
to  our  ideas  of  what  a  president  should  be ;  while 
old  General  Scott,  with  his  gold  epaulets,  sash, 
and  sword,  made  a  magnificent  presence.  But 
as  afterward  I  saw  Lincoln  almost  daily,  often 
for  hours  at  a  time,  I  soon  forgot  his  awkward 
appearance,  and  came  to  think  of  him  as  a  very 
attractive  and,  indeed,  lovable  person. 

This,  then,  was  the  beginning,  and  the  four 
young  operators  I  have  named,  formed  the  nu 
cleus  of  the  United  States  Military  Telegraph 
Corps,  which  later,  at  its  maximum  strength,  con- 

26 


THE   MILITARY   TELEGRAPH   CORPS 

tained  over  fifteen  hundred  members.  In  1907, 
when  these  pages  were  written,  the  survivors 
numbered  less  than  two  hundred.1 

The  United  States  Military  Telegraph  Corps 
was  a  special  organization,  and  its  members  were 
not  considered  an  integral  part  of  the  army  (ex 
cepting  only  ten  or  twelve  holding  commissions, 
to  enable  them  officially  to  receive  and  disburse 
funds  and  property) ,  nor  were  we  under  military 
control  proper,  our  orders  coming  direct  from 
the  Secretary  of  War. 

Our  first  superintendent  was  David  Strouse.2 
His  health  was  poor  when  he  reached  Washing 
ton,  and  he  overworked  himself  during  the  suc 
ceeding  months,  dying  in  November  of  that  year. 
Samuel  M.  Brown,  another  of  the  original  group, 
died  in  1877.  James  R.  Gilmore  succeeded 
Strouse,  and  he  in  turn  was  succeeded  by  Thomas 
T.  Eckert,  Gilmore  having  resigned.  Gilmore 
helped  to  organize  the  126th  Pennsylvania  Vol 
unteers,  and  was  with  that  regiment  until  after 
Antietam  and  Fredericksburg.  He  then  re- 

1  One  of  the  recent  deaths  was  that  of  Edward  Rosewater,  pro 
prietor  of  the  Omaha  "Bee,"  who  died  in  1906  soon  after  his  return 
from  Rome,  where  he  represented  the  United  States  as  one  of  two 
delegates  in  the  International  Postal  Congress. 

2  His  official  appointment  bears  date  May  15,  1861. 

27 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

joined  the  Military  Telegraph  Corps,  with  which 
he  was  connected  until  a  year  after  the  war,  serv 
ing  chiefly  as  superintendent  in  the  Department 
of  the  South,  under  General  Quincy  A.  Gillmore. 
He  is  still  living  at  his  old  home,  in  Chambers- 
hurg,  Pennsylvania. 

My  first  assignment  to  duty  was  at  the  Navy 
Yard  under  Captain,  afterward  Rear- Admiral, 
Dahlgren,  who  directed  the  sergeant  of  the  guard 
to  keep  a  sentry  in  front  of  the  door  leading  to 
the  telegraph  room,  and  to  allow  no  one  to  enter 
or  leave.  These  orders  were  obeyed  literally,  and 
for  four  days  I  was  virtually  a  prisoner,  my  fru 
gal  meals  being  sent  to  me.  The  confinement  be 
came  so  irksome  that  on  one  occasion  I  locked  the 
door  and  climbed  out  of  the  window;  but  on  my 
return  by  the  same  route,  the  sentry  overheard 
the  noise  I  made,  and  when  I  opened  the  door  he 
warned  me  that  the  manceuver  could  be  repeated 
only  at  the  risk  of  a  shot  from  his  gun. 

Early  in  May  I  was  transferred  to  Annapolis 
Junction,  where  on  the  night  of  the  tenth  I  was 
roused  from  bed  by  General  Butler,  who  ordered 
me  to  open  the  telegraph  office  and  keep  the  rail 
road  track  clear  to  Annapolis  for  the  train  carry 
ing  Ross  Winans,  whom  he  had  that  day  arrested 

28 


THE   MILITARY   TELEGRAPH   CORPS 

in  Baltimore  for  treason.  I  continued  to  call  the 
Annapolis  office  for  several  hours,  but  finally 
concluded  that  General  Butler's  train  had  either 
safely  reached  its  destination  or  had  encountered 
obstacles  which  I  could  not  hope  to  remove.  A 
fortnight  later  I  returned  to  the  War  Depart 
ment,  and  remained  there  on  continuous  duty 
until  a  year  after  the  close  of  the  war,  excepting 
for  two  weeks  in  June,  1864,  when  I  served  as 
cipher-operator  for  General  Grant  at  City  Point. 
My  second  meeting  with  Abraham  Lincoln 
was  on  May  24,  1861,  my  first  service  at 
that  time  being  to  record  and  deliver  to  him 
in  person  a  telegram  from  an  advance  office 
in  Virginia,  beyond  Long  Bridge,  announc 
ing  the  shooting  of  Colonel  Ellsworth  of 
the  Fire  Zouaves  (Eleventh  New  York)  at  the 
Marshall  House,  Alexandria.  Ellsworth  had 
been  a  student  in  Lincoln's  office  before  the  war, 
and  was  held  in  high  esteem  by  Lincoln,  who, 
upon  hearing  the  sad  news  of  his  death,  wrote  a 
touching  letter  of  condolence  to  his  parents  from 
which  the  following  extract  is  quoted: 

Washington,  D.  C.,  May  25,  1861. 

To  the  Father  and  Mother  of  Colonel  Elmer  E.  Ellsworth. 
MY  DEAR  SIR  AND  MADAM:  In  the  untimely  loss  of  your 

29 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

noble  son,  our  affliction  here  is  scarcely  less  than  your  own. 
...  In  the  hope  that  it  may  be  no  intrusion  upon  the 
sacredness  of  your  sorrow,  I  have  ventured  to  address  you 
this  tribute  to  the  memory  of  my  young  friend  and  your 
brave  and  early  fallen  child. 

May  God  give  you  that  consolation  which  is  beyond  all 
earthly  power. 

Sincerely  your  friend  in  a  common  affliction, 

A.  LINCOLN. 

The  entire  letter  shows  the  great  man's  sym 
pathy  with  human  sorrow  and  his  close  reliance 
upon  God,  which  traits  appear  like  golden  threads 
running  all  through  his  published  utterances  and 
were  exhibited  in  his  every-day  walk  and  conver 
sation.  My  fellow  telegrapher,  Charles  A.  Tin 
ker,  thinks  that  Ellsworth,  while  studying  law  in 
Lincoln's  office  at  Springfield  about  1859,  drew 
up  the  Illinois  militia  law.  I  am  unable  to  con 
firm  this.  Ellsworth  accompanied  Lincoln  on  his 
journey  from  Springfield  to  Washington  in  Feb 
ruary,  1861. 

Amasa  Stone  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  whose  daugh 
ter  afterward  became  the  wife  of  John  Hay,  was 
a  director  and  large  holder  of  stock  in  the  West 
ern  Union  Telegraph  Company,  of  which  Anson 
Stager  was  general  superintendent.  Stone  rec 
ommended  Stager  to  Secretary  of  War  Cameron 
as  a  suitable  person  to  take  general  charge  of 

30 


THE    MILITARY   TELEGRAPH    CORPS 

military  telegraph  matters.  Meantime  Stager 
had  voluntarily  cooperated  with  General  McClel- 
lan  in  Ohio  and  Western  Virginia,  in  the  opera 
tion  of  telegraph-lines  required  for  military  pur 
poses.  In  accordance  with  Stone's  suggestion 
Cameron  telegraphed  Stager  to  come  to  Wash 
ington,  which  he  did  at  once.  Upon  his  arrival, 
he  submitted  a  brief  but  comprehensive  plan  for 
a  military  telegraph  service  which  was  referred 
by  Thomas  A.  Scott,  Assistant  Secretary  of  War, 
to  the  President,  who  returned  it  on  the  same  day 
with  this  indorsement : 

Washington,  D.  C.,  Oct.  28,  1861. 

I  have  not  sufficient  time  to  study  and  mature  an  opinion 
on  this  plan.  If  the  Secretary  of  War  has  confidence  in  it 
and  is  satisfied  to  adopt  it,  I  have  no  objections. 

A.  LINCOLN.1 

The  Secretary  of  War  formally  approved  the 
plan,  and  on  November  11  Stager  was  appointed 
captain  and  assistant-quartermaster,  and  on  No 
vember  25  was  assigned  in  Special  Orders  313  to 
duty  as  general  manager  of  military  telegraph- 
lines.  Stager  was  commissioned  colonel  in  the  army 
on  February  26, 1862,  and  brevet  brigadier-general 

1  Plum's  "Military  Telegraph,"  Vol.  I,  p.  129. 

31 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

on  March  13,  1865,  for  meritorious  service.  Spe 
cial  Orders  313  must  have  been  lost  in  the  hurry 
and  excitement  of  war  preparations,  for  on  Feb 
ruary  25,  1862,  Stager  was  appointed  "Military 
superintendent  of  all  telegraph-lines  and  offices 
in  the  United  States,"  and  on  April  8,  1862,  we 
find  that  General  Order  38  appoints  him  assist 
ant  quartermaster  and  military  superintendent 
of  telegraph-lines  throughout  the  United  States. 
Each  of  these  orders  placed  all  lines  and 
employees  under  the  control  of  the  Secretary 
of  War,  and  required  commanding  officers 
to  "furnish  rations  and  give  all  necessary  aid  to 
Colonel  Stager  and  his  assistants  in  the  construc 
tion,  repair,  and  protection  of  military  telegraph- 
lines." 

Stager  from  time  to  time  appointed  assist 
ants,  who  were  also  given  commissions  in  the 
Quartermaster's  Department,  to  enable  them 
to  handle  government  property  and  cash. 
Major  Eckert  was  Colonel  Stager's  principal 
assistant,  in  immediate  charge  of  telegraph  oper 
ations  at  Washington  and  in  the  Department  of 
the  Potomac.  Colonel  Stager  visited  Washing 
ton  occasionally,  but  resided  in  Cleveland,  and 
after  October,  1863,  he  made  that  place  his  per- 

32 


Of    THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


THE   MILITARY   TELEGRAPH   CORPS 

0 

manent  headquarters  and  from  that  point  di 
rected  the  operations  of  the  corps  generally, 
giving  particular  attention  to  matters  in  the 
West  and  Southwest,  his  principal  assistant  in 
that  section  being  Colonel  Robert  C.  Clowry, 
who  was  stationed  first  at  Little  Rock  and  after 
ward  at  St.  Louis.  On  March  13,  1865,  Clowry 
was  appointed  brevet  lieutenant-colonel  for 
"meritorious  service  and  devoted  application 
to  duty,"  a  characterization  that  all  who  know 
him  consider  well  bestowed.  For  many  years 
Colonel  Clowry  was  vice-president,  and  he  is  now 
president,  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph 
Company. 

There  was  no  government  telegraph  organiza 
tion  before  the  Civil  War.  In  the  month  of 
April,  1861,  the  American  Telegraph  Company, 
whose  lines  reached  Washington  from  the  North, 
extended  its  wires  to  the  War  Department,  Navy 
Yard,  Arsenal,  Chain-Bridge,  and  other  outlying 
points.  There  was  no  appropriation  to  meet  the 
expenses  of  a  government  telegraph  service,  and 
for  six  months  or  more  Edwards  S.  Sanford, 
President  of  the  American  Telegraph  Company, 
paid  all  the  bills,  aggregating  thousands  of  dol 
lars,  for  poles,  wires,  instruments,  salaries  of 

35 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

operators,  etc.  This  was  a  generous  and  patriotic 
act  on  the  part  of  Sanford,  which  was  gratefully 
acknowledged  by  the  President  and  Secretary 
Cameron  and  by  the  latter's  successor,  Stanton. 
The  American  Telegraph  Company  was,  of 
course,  reimbursed  later  through  an  appropria 
tion  by  Congress. 

Efforts  have  been  made  from  time  to  time  to 
have  Congress  pass  an  act  giving  us  officially 
what  we  always  claimed  was  our  real  status  in 
the  United  States  army,  but  not  until  thirty- 
two  years  after  the  war  closed  was  even  partial 
justice  done.  On  January  26,  1897,  President 
Cleveland  approved  an  act  authorizing  and  di 
recting  the  Secretary  of  War  to  issue  certificates 
of  honorable  service  to  all  members  of  the  United 
States  Military  Telegraph  Corps,  or  to  the  repre 
sentatives  of  deceased  members.  The  act  was 
carefully  drawn,  however,  to  exclude  us  from 
receiving  pensions.  The  certificates  issued  to 
Richard  O'Brien  and  the  writer  bear  the  date  of 
entry  into  government  service  as  of  April  27, 
1861,  which  is  the  earliest  shown  on  the  War  De 
partment  records.  We  have  not  yet  received 
the  honor  of  membership  in  the  Grand  Army  of 
the  Republic,  although  we  are  in  fact  honorably 

36 


THE   MILITARY   TELEGRAPH   CORPS 

discharged  members  of  the  United  States  army, 
by  virtue  of  the  special  act  above  specified  which 
mention  our  corps  by  name.1 

1  Additional  information  relating  to  the  Military  Telegraph 
Corps  may  be  found  in  the  Appendix.  See  also  William  R.  Plum's 
two  volumes,  "The  Military  Telegraph  in  the  Civil  War,"  and  Sen 
ate  Document  251,  58th  Cong.,  2d  Session. 


87 


Ill 

THE  WAR  DEPARTMENT  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

THE  telegraph  office  in  the  War  Department 
was  first  located  in  Chief  Clerk  Sander 
son's  room  adjoining  that  of  the  Secretary  of 
War,  on  the  second  floor  of  the  building  in  the 
southeast  corner.  In  May,  1861,  it  was  trans 
ferred  to  the  entresol  at  the  head  of  the  first  stair 
way,  where  it  remained  until  August,  when  it 
was  moved  to  a  room  on  the  first  floor,  north 
front,  to  the  east  of  the  main  entrance  from  Penn 
sylvania  Avenue. 

In  October,  1861,  the  telegraph  office  was 
moved  to  the  first  floor  room  west  of  the  rear 
entrance,  opposite  the  Navy  Department.  The 
final  change  was  made  soon  after  the  Monitor- 
Merrimac  fight  in  March,  1862,  when  Secretary 
of  War  Stanton  directed  the  office  to  be  located 
in  the  old  library  room,  on  the  second  floor 
front,  adjoining  his  own  quarters,  which  con 
sisted  of  three  rooms,  each  having  two  win- 

38 


WAR   DEPARTMENT   TELEGRAPH   OFFICE 

dows.  The  library  room  had  five  windows,  and 
about  one  half  of  the  floor  space  was  taken  up 
with  alcoves  containing  many  rare  volumes  of 
great  value  including  among  others  a  perfect 
elephant  folio  edition — of  Audubon's1  "Birds 
of  America."  The  alcove  doors  were  securely 
locked,  but  the  telegraph  operators  managed  to 
obtain  access  to  the  books,  from  which  we  made 
selections  for  reading  and  study.  It  was  in  this 
old  library — which  Librarian  Cheney  tells  me 
was  founded  in  1800 — that  I  first  came  across  a 
copy  of  Roget's  "Thesaurus,"  to  which  we  there 
after  made  frequent  reference,  especially  during 
the  time  when  Charles  A.  Dana,  Assistant  Secre 
tary  of  War,  was  at  Grant's  and  Rosecrans's 
headquarters,  from  each  of  which  he  sent  long 
cipher-despatches  containing  words  with  mean 
ings  new  and  obscure  to  the  telegraph  boys. 

Not  long  after  the  instruments  had  been  moved 
to  the  library  room,  Secretary  Stanton  gave  up 
the  adjoining  room  for  the  use  of  the  cipher- 
operators.  We  remained  in  these  quarters  until 
after  the  close  of  the  war. 

From  January,  1862,  when  Stanton  entered 
the  cabinet,  until  the  war  ended,  the  telegraphic 

xFour  volumes,  size  25  x  39  inches,  London  imprint,  1827-1830. 
3  39 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

reins  of  the  Government  were  held  by  a  firm  and 
skilful  hand.  Nicolay  and  Hay,  in  their  "Abra 
ham  Lincoln,"  1  say  that  Stanton  "centered  the 
telegraph  in  the  War  Department,  'where  the 
publication  of  military  news,  which  might  pre 
maturely  reach  the  enemy,  could  be  supervised, 
and,  if  necessary,  delayed,"  and  that  it  was  Lin 
coln's  practice  to  go  informally  to  Stanton's  office 
in  times  of  great  suspense  during  impending  or 
actual  battles,  and  "spend  hour  after  hour  with 
his  War  Secretary,  where  he  could  read  the  tele 
grams  as  fast  as  they  were  received  and  handed  in 
from  the  adjoining  room."  He  did  not  always 
wait  for  them  to  be  handed  in,  but  made  the 
cipher-room  his  rendezvous,  keeping  in  close 
touch  with  the  cipher-operators,  often  looking 
over  our  shoulders  when  he  knew  some  specially 
important  message  was  in  course  of  translation. 

When  in  the  telegraph  office,  Lincoln  was  most 
easy  of  access.  He  often  talked  with  the  cipher- 
operators,  asking  questions  regarding  the  de 
spatches  which  we  were  translating  from  or  into 

1Vol.  V,  pp.  141-142.  See  also  Vol.  VI,  p.  114:  "His  thoughts 
by  day  and  anxiety  by  night  fed  upon  the  intelligence  which  the 
telegraph  brought.  ...  It  is  safe  to  say  that  no  general  in  the 
army  studied  his  maps  and  scanned  his  telegrams  with  half  the 
industry— and  it  may  be  added  with  half  the  intelligence— which 
Mr.  Lincoln  gave  to  his." 

40 


WAR   DEPARTMENT   TELEGRAPH   OFFICE 

cipher,  or  which  were  filed  in  the  order  of  receipt 
in  the  little  drawer  in  our  cipher-desk. 

Lincoln's  habit  was  to  go  immediately  to  the 
drawer  each  time  he  came  into  our  room,  and 
read  over  the  telegrams,  beginning  at  the  top, 
until  he  came  to  the  one  he  had  seen  at  his  last 
previous  visit.  When  this  point  was  reached  he 
almost  always  said,  "Well,  boys,  I  am  down  to 
raisins."  After  we  had  heard  this  curious  remark 
a  number  of  times,  one  of  us  ventured  to  ask  him 
what  it  meant.  He  thereupon  told  us  the  story 
of  the  little  girl  who  celebrated  her  birthday  by 
eating  very  freely  of  many  good  things,  topping 
off  with  raisins  for  dessert.  During  the  night  she 
was  taken  violently  ill,  and  when  the  doctor  ar 
rived  she  was  busy  casting  up  her  accounts.  The 
genial  doctor,  scrutinizing  the  contents  of  the 
vessel,  noticed  some  small  black  objects  that  had 
just  appeared,  and  remarked  to  the  anxious  par 
ent  that  all  danger  was  past,  as  the  child  was 
"down  to  raisins."  "So,"  Lincoln  said,  "when  I 
reach  the  message  in  this  pile  which  I  saw  on  my 
last  visit,  I  know  that  I  need  go  no  further." 

In  the  White  House,  Lincoln  had  little  or  no 
leisure,  but  was  constantly  under  a  severe  strain 
from  which,  as  he  often  told  us,  he  obtained  wel- 

41 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

come  relief  by  his  frequent  visits  to  the  telegraph 
office,  which  place  was  in  fact  his  haven  of  rest, 
his  Bethany.  There  only  was  he  comparatively 
free  from  interruption  and  he  would  frequently 
remain  for  hours,  and  sometimes  all  night,  await 
ing  news  that  might  mean  so  much  to  the  coun 
try,  and  in  the  intervals  of  waiting  he  would 
write  messages  of  inquiry,  counsel  and  encour 
agement  to  the  generals  in  the  field,  to  the  gov 
ernors  of  the  loyal  states  and  sometimes  de 
spatches  announcing  pardon  or  reprieve  to  sol 
diers  under  sentence  of  death  for  desertion  or 
sleeping  on  post.  He  almost  lived  in  the  tele 
graph  office  when  a  battle  was  in  progress,  and 
on  other  occasions  would  drop  in,  as  he  sometimes 
jocosely  remarked,  to  get  rid  of  the  pestering 
crowd  of  office-seekers. 

The  War  Department  telegraph  office  was  the 
scene  of  many  vitally  important  conferences  be 
tween  Lincoln  and  members  of  his  cabinet,  lead 
ing  generals,  congressmen  and  others,  who  soon 
learned  that  when  the  President  was  not  at  the 
White  House  he  could  most  likely  be  found  in 
the  telegraph  office. 

The  staff  of  the  War  Department  telegraph 
office  consisted  at  first  of  a  few  operators  only, 

42 


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2     o 

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e?        ^ 


WAR   DEPARTMENT   TELEGRAPH   OFFICE 

our  manager  from  May,  1861,  to  March,  1862, 
being  William  B.  Wilson  who  in  the  service  of 
the  Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania  had  opened 
on  April  17,  1861,  in  Governor  Curtin's  office  at 
Harrisburg  the  first  military  telegraph  office  on 
the  continent.  Later,  in  the  Antietam  and  Get 
tysburg  campaigns,  and  during  Early's  raid,  Wil 
son  rendered  important  scouting  service,  carrying 
with  him  a  telegraph  instrument  which  he  utilized 
in  sending  reports  over  the  wires  by  cutting  in 
when  opportunity  offered. 

On  March  29,  1903,  the  State  of  Pennsyl 
vania  awarded  to  Wilson  a  gold  medal  bear 
ing  this  inscription:  "In  recognition  of  his 
Important  and  Delicate  Service  as  Military 
Telegraph  Operator  and  Scout  during  the 
Raids  and  Invasions  into  the  State,  1862-3 
and  4."  The  same  Act  gave  him  a  commission 
as  colonel  of  Pennsylvania  volunteers.  Colonel 
Wilson  is  the  only  member  of  the  Civil  War 
Military  Telegraph  Corps  who  to-day  holds 
a  commission,  all  other  officers  in  that  corps  hav 
ing  been  mustered  out  after  the  close  of  the  war. 

I  succeeded  manager  Wilson  in  March,  1862, 
soon  after  Major  Thomas  T.  Eckert  was  ap 
pointed  chief  of  the  War  Department  telegraph 

45 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

staff,  which  office  he  held  until  August,  1866.  I 
continued  to  hold  the  position  of  manager  until 
the  latter  date,  serving  also  as  cipher-operator 
with  Charles  A.  Tinker,  Albert  B.  Chandler, 
George  W.  Baldwin,  and  Frank  Stewart.  Bald 
win  and  Stewart  died  years  ago.  As  the  tele 
graphic  work  increased  the  staff  was  enlarged, 
until  at  one  time  there  were  ten  or  twelve 
day  and,  as  needs  required,  two  or  three  night  op 
erators.  It  was  not  always  an  easy  matter  to  pro 
cure  enough  skilled  telegraphers  for  the  service, 
and  whenever  we  learned  of  enlisted  soldiers  or 
drafted  men  who  could  telegraph  we  took  imme 
diate  steps  to  secure  an  order  from  the  Secretary 
of  War  detailing  such  men  for  our  service. 

One  instance,  described  in  the  following  letter, 
will  suffice  to  show  at  once  our  great  need  of 
operators  and  the  method  of  speedy  transfer  to 
our  corps : 

Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  May  1,  1907. 

One  day  early  in  June,  1864,  I  was  ordered  to  Wilming 
ton,  Delaware,  on  special  duty  for  my  Battery.  While 
there  I  happened  to  meet  Martin  Buell,  who  had  charge  of 
the  military  telegraph-line  down  the  Eastern  shore  leading 
to  Fort  Monroe.  In  a  brief  conversation  he  learned  that  I 
was  a  telegraph-operator  and  he  remarked,  "We  need  you 
in  our  service."  How  quickly  this  apparently  casual  re 
mark  bore  fruit  is  shown  by  the  following  correspondence: 

46 


WAR   DEPARTMENT   TELEGRAPH   OFFICE 

"Fort  Delaware ,  June  7,  1864. 
"Mr.  M.  V.  B.  Buell,  Wilmington. 

"SiR:  If  you  design  endeavoring  to  have  J.  W.  Boyd  of 
this  command  transferred  elsewhere  I  would  respectfully 
state  that  it  will  be  impossible  for  me  to  spare  him  from 
here,  he  being  a  clerk  in  my  office. 

"Very  respectfully,  A.  SCHOEF,  Brig.  Gen.  Comdg." 

"War  Department,  A.  G.  0., 
"Washington,  D.  C.,  June  8,  1864. 
"Special  Orders  201. 

"...  Private  Joseph  W.  Boyd,  Battery  G,  Independent 
Pennsylvania  Artillery,  now  at  Fort  Delaware,  Del.,  is 
hereby  granted  a  furlough  without  pay  or  emoluments  to 
enable  him  to  enter  the  U.  S.  Military  Telegraph  Corps. 
He  will  be  borne  on  his  Company  Rolls  as  on  furlough  and 
will  report  in  person  without  delay  for  duty  to  Mr.  M.  V. 
B.  Buell  at  Dover,  Del. 

"The  quartermaster  will  furnish  the  necessary  trans 
portation. 

"By  order  of  the  Secretary  of  War. 

"E.  D.  TOWNSEND,  Asst.  Adjt.  Genl." 

I  served  on  this  detail  as  military  telegraph  operator 
until  September,  1865,  but  was  mustered  out  with  my  Bat 
tery  on  June  15,  1865. 

JOSEPH  W.  BOYD. 

All  military  telegraph  despatches  from  or  to 
Washington  of  necessity  passed  through  the  War 
Department  office.  The  operators  were  fully 
occupied  in  the  work  of  transmitting  and  receiv- 

47 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

ing  these  messages  over  the  wires,  and  the  cipher- 
operators  in  translating  the  more  important  ones 
into  and  out  of  cipher.  There  was  no  time  to 
spare  for  the  task  of  filing  them  away  in  an  or 
derly,  careful  manner,  but  the  Government  was 
fortunate  in  having  the  right  man  for  such  an 
important  duty,  and  historians  of  the  Civil  War 
for  all  time  will  have  cause  to  be  grateful  to 
Major  Albert  E.  H.  Johnson  for  his  preliminary 
work  toward  the  great  array  of  volumes  of  the 
"Official  Records"  published  by  authority  of 
Congress,  which  contain  thousands  of  military 
telegrams  all  carefully  filed  by  him. 

Johnson  before  the  war  was  a  clerk  in 
Stanton's  law  office  and  came  with  him  to  the 
War  Department  as  his  private  secretary  in  Jan 
uary,  1862.  He  remained  in  that  capacity,  and 
as  custodian  of  military  telegrams,  until  Stanton 
left  the  cabinet  in  1868.  Over  eighty  years  of 
age,  he  is  still  living  in  Washington,  and  to  him 
the  writer  is  indebted  for  authentic  data  concern 
ing  many  of  the  incidents,  recorded  herein. 


48 


IV 


CIPHER-CODES  AND  MESSAGES 


A^SON  STAGER  was  the  author  of  the 
first  Federal  ciphers,  which  he  devised  for 
General  McClellan's  use  in  West  Virginia,  in  the 
summer  of  1861,  before  McClellan  came  to 
Washington.  They  were  very  simple,  consisting 
merely  of  cards,  about  three  inches  by  five,  on 
which  was  printed  a  series  of  key-words  and  arbi- 
traries,  the  former  indicating  the  number  of  lines 
and  columns  and  the  route  or  order  in  which  the 
messages  might  be  written,  the  arbitrary  words 
being  used  to  represent  names  of  places  and 
persons.  When  an  important  despatch  was 
intrusted  to  a  cipher-operator  for  transmission, 
he  first  rewrote  it  carefully  in  five,  six,  or  seven 
columns,  as  the  case  might  be,  adding  extra  or 
blind  words  on  the  last  line,  if  it  was  not  full. 
A  key-word  was  then  selected  to  indicate  the 
number  of  columns  and  lines  and  the  order  in 
which  the  words  of  the  message  were  to  be  copied 
for  transmission  by  wire. 

49 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

For  instance,  a  certain  key-word  would  repre 
sent  the  combination  of  seven  columns  and 
eleven  lines,  and  the  route  would  be  up  the  sixth 
column,  down  the  third,  up  the  fifth,  down  the 
seventh,  up  the  first,  down  the  fourth,  down  the 
second.  At  the  end  of  each  column  a  blind  word 
would  be  inserted,  provided  the  code  so  directed, 
and  at  the  end  of  the  despatch  one  or  more  blind 
words  might  be  added  at  the  discretion  of  the 
cipher-operator,  for  the  purpose  of  increasing  the 
difficulty  of  translation  by  unauthorized  persons. 
The  key-word  and  the  blind  words  would  be 
discarded  by  the  cipher-operator  when  translat 
ing  the  despatch  into  English.  The  total  number 
of  words  in  a  cipher-message  in  the  above-men 
tioned  combination  would  be  7  x  12  +  1  =  85,  pro 
vided  no  extra  words  were  added  at  the  end,  as 
above  indicated. 

This  somewhat  crude  but  really  effective 
method  was  improved  upon  from  time  to  time  by 
the  War  Department  staff  of  cipher-operators. 

Mr.  William  R.  Plum,  in  his  history,  "The 
Military  Telegraph,"  Vol.  I,  p.  60,  says: 

The  Cipher  System,  originated  by  Anson  Stager,  and 
developed  mainly  by  him,  but  in  no  small  degree  by  others, 
more  particularly  T.  T.  Eckert,  A.  B.  Chandler,  D. 

50 


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CIPHER-CODES   AND   MESSAGES 

Homer  Bates  and  Charles  A.  Tinker,  was  eminently 
successful.  Copies  of  cipher  messages  quite  often  reached 
the  enemy,  and,  some  were  published  in  their  newspapers, 
with  a  general  request  for  translation,  but  all  to  no  purpose. 
To  the  statement  that  in  no  case  did  an  enemy  ever  succeed 
in  deciphering  such  messages,  let  us  add  that  neither  did 
any  Federal  cipher-operator  ever  prove  recreant  to  his 
sacred  trust,  and  we  have,  in  a  sentence,  two  facts  that  re 
flect  infinite  credit  upon  the  corps. 

It  is  not  within  the  scope  of  this  history  to 
describe  in  detail  the  various  cipher-codes  used  in 
the  military  telegraph  service  during  the  Civil 
War,  as  Plum's  history  contains  a  full  and 
accurate  account,  to  which  little  can  be  added 
except  in  the  way  of  incident.  It  will  suf 
fice  here  to  say  that  from  time  to  time  the  War 
Department  staff  issued  successive  printed  edi 
tions  of  this  cipher-code,  numbering  twelve  in  all, 
in  the  form  of  a  book  of  a  size  suitable  for  the 
pocket,  containing  at  first  sixteen  printed  pages, 
and  in  the  last  edition,  forty-eight  pages.  The 
front  part  was  taken  up  with  key-words,  in  dif 
ferent  order  and  various  combinations.  The  re 
mainder  of  the  book  contained  a  series  of  printed 
arbitrary  words  opposite  which,  in  each  case,  re 
spectively,  we  wrote  the  name  of  a  person,  place, 
or  short  phrase  most  likely  to  be  used  in  military 
despatches. 

53 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

To  the  President,  cabinet  officers,  and  leading 
generals  two,  three,  and  in  some  cases  half  a 
dozen  arbitrary  words  were  assigned,  so  that  in 
any  despatch  prepared  for  transmission  it  would 
not  be  necessary  to  use  a  given  word  more  than 
once.  This  precaution  was  also  followed  in  the 
key-word  section,  several  different  words  being 
set  apart  to  represent  each  separate  combination. 
Arbitrary  words  were  also  used  to  indicate  the 
month,  day,  and  hour  of  each  cipher-message 
when  ready  for  transmission. 

On  page  55  is  given  one  example  from  Plum's 
history  which  will  suffice  to  show  the  general 
plan  followed  in  all  our  cipher  work. 

The  combination  selected  wras  indicated  by  the 
key- word  "Blonde"  in  No.  12  cipher,  effec 
tive  at  that  time  between  the  War  Department 
and  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  ex- Secretary 
Cameron  being  then  on  a  visit  to  General  Meade's 
headquarters,  south  of  Gettysburg. 

This  key- word  "Blonde"  indicated  the  combina 
tion  of  columns,  lines,  and  word  route  specified 
above.  Following  these  directions,  the  despatch, 
when  prepared  for  transmission  by  wire,  was  in 
this  form: 

54 


CIPHER-CODES   AND   MESSAGES 


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55 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

Washington,  D.  C.,  July  15,  1863. 

A.  H.  CALDWELL,  Cipher-operator, 

Gen.  Meade's  Headquarters: 

Blonde  bless  of  who  no  optic  to  get  an  impression  I 
madison  square  Brown  cammer  Toby  ax  the  have  turnip  me 
Harry  bitch  rustle  silk  adrian  counsel  locust  you  another 
only  of  children  serenade  flea  Knox  county  for  wood  that 
awl  ties  get  hound  who  was  war  him  suicide  on  for  was 
please  village  large  bat  Bunyan  give  sigh  incubus  heavy 
Norris  on  trammeled  cat  knit  striven  without  if  Madrid 
quail  upright  martyr  Stewart  man  much  bear  since  ass 
skeleton  tell  the  oppressing  Tyler  monkey. 

BATES. 

Total,  eighty-five  words. 

By  comparing  the  two  copies  one  may  discover 
the  several  arbitrary  words  used  to  represent 
names  of  persons,  places,  dates,  words  and 
phrases.  The  blind  words  may  also  be  readily 
found. 

Captain  Samuel  H.  Beckwith,  General  Grant's 
cipher-operator  during  his  four  campaigns,  was 
an  expert  with  the  pen,  as  will  be  seen  from  the 
specimen  of  his  work  shown  by  the  facsimile  of 
two  pages  of  his  cipher-book,  which  is  truly  a 
work  of  art.  It  was  his  habit  all  through  the  war 
to  recopy  with  a  pen  the  contents  of  each  new 
edition  of  our  cipher-book  as  fast  as  supplied  to 
him,  and  his  written  copy  would  be  so  embellished 

56 


CIPHER-CODES   AND   MESSAGES 


with  extraneous  matter  as  to  make  it  not  only 
attractive  from  a  chirographical  point  of  view, 


m. 


4, 

l\ 


r*  n 


11 


Facsimile  of  two  pages  of  the  last  cipher-book  in  the  War 

Department  series,  printed  for  the  first  time  in 

"Century  Magazine"  for  June,  1907 

The  original  is  in  the  handwriting  of  Captain  Samuel  H.  Beckwith,  General 

Grant's  cipher-operator,  and  was  used  in  transmitting  Lincoln's 

telegrams  to  and  from  City  Point  and  Richmond, 

March  25  to  April  8,  1865 

but  also  wholly  unintelligible  to  any  one  but  a 
shrewd  cipher-operator.     By  the  use  of  ink  of 

57 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

various  colors  he  combined  two  or  three  different 
codes  in  one  book. 

The  one  from  which  these  two  pages  were 
taken  was  the  last  in  the  War  Department  series, 
having  been  sent  to  Beckwith  on  March  23,  1865, 
and  it  was  this  cipher  that  he  used  for  Lincoln's 
despatches  during  his  two  weeks'  stay  at  City 
Point  and  Richmond,  March  25  to  April  8,  1865, 
after  which  time  none  of  the  President's  tele 
grams  was  put  in  cipher.  For  this  reason  Beck- 
with's  cipher-book  is  of  historic  interest. 

During  Burnside's  Fredericksburg  campaign 
at  the  end  of  1862,  the  War  Department  oper 
ators  discovered  indications  of  an  interloper  on 
the  wire  leading  to  his  headquarters  at  Aquia 
Creek.  These  indications  consisted  of  an  occa 
sional  irregular  opening  and  closing  of  the  circuit 
and  once  in  a  while  strange  signals,  evidently 
not  made  by  our  own  operators.  It  is  proper 
to  note  that  the  characteristics  of  each  Morse 
operator's  sending  are  just  as  pronounced  and  as 
easily  recognized  as  those  of  ordinary  handwrit 
ing,  so  that  when  a  message  is  transmitted  over 
a  wire,  the  identity  of  the  sender  may  readily  be 
known  to  any  other  operator  within  hearing  who 
has  ever  worked  with  him.  A  somewhat  similar 

58 


CIPHER-CODES   AND   MESSAGES 

means  of  personal  identification  occurs  every  day 
in  the  use  of  the  telephone. 

At  the  time  referred  to,  therefore,  we  were 
certain  that  our  wire  had  been  tapped.  In 
some  way  or  other  the  Confederate  operator 
learned  that  we  were  aware  of  his  pres 
ence,  and  he  then  informed  us  that  he  was  from 
Lee's  army  and  had  been  on  our  wire  for  sev 
eral  days,  and  that,  having  learned  all  that  he 
wanted  to  know,  he  was  then  about  to  cut  out 
and  run.  We  gossiped  with  him  for  a  while  and 
then  ceased  to  hear  his  signals  and  believed  that 
he  had  gone. 

We  had  taken  measures,  however,  to  dis 
cover  his  whereabouts  by  sending  out  linemen 
to  patrol  the  line;  but  his  tracks  were  well  con 
cealed,  and  it  was  only  after  the  intruder  had  left 
that  we  found  the  place  where  our  wire  had  been 
tapped.  He  had  made  the  secret  connection  by 
means  of  fine  silk-covered  magnet  wire,  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  conceal  the  joint  almost  entirely. 
Meantime,  Burnside's  cipher-operator  was  tempo 
rarily  absent  from  his  post,  and  we  had  recourse 
toacrude  plan  for  concealing  the  text  of  telegrams 
to  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  which  we  had  fol 
lowed  on  other  somewhat  similar  occasions  when 

*  59 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

we  believed  the  addressee  or  operator  at  the  dis 
tant  point  ( not  provided  with  the  cipher-key)  was 
particularly  keen  and  alert.  This  plan  consisted 
primarily  of  sending  the  message  backward,  the 
individual  words  being  misspelled  and  otherwise 
garbled.  We  had  practised  on  one  or  two  de 
spatches  to  Burnside  before  the  Confederate  oper 
ator  was  discovered  to  be  on  the  wire,  and  were 
pleased  to  get  his  prompt  answers,  couched  also 
in  similar  outlandish  language,  which  was,  how 
ever,  intelligible  to  us  after  a  short  study  of  the 
text  in  each  case.  Burnside  and  ourselves  soon 
became  quite  expert  in  this  home-made  cipher 
game,  as  we  all  strove  hard  to  clothe  the  de 
spatches  in  strange,  uncouth  garb. 

In  order  to  deceive  the  Confederate  oper 
ator,  however,  we  sent  to  Burnside  a  number 
of  cipher  messages,  easy  of  translation,  and  which 
contained  all  sorts  of  bogus  information  for  the 
purpose  of  misleading  the  enemy.  Burnside  or 
his  operator  at  once  surmised  our  purpose,  and 
the  general  thereupon  sent  us  in  reply  a  lot  of  bald 
erdash  also  calculated  to  deceive  the  uninitiated. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  the  following  spe 
cially  important  despatch  from  Lincoln  was  filed 
for  transmission: 

60 


CIPHER-CODES   AND   MESSAGES 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington, 
November  25,  1862.    11 :30  A.M. 

MAJOR-GENERAL  BURNSIDE,  Falmouth,  Virginia:  If  I 
should  be  in  boat  off  Aquia  Creek  at  dark  to-morrow 
(Wednesday)  evening,  could  you,  without  inconvenience, 
meet  me  and  pass  an  hour  or  two  with  me?  A.  LINCOLN. 


Although  the  Confederate  operator  had  said 
good-by  several  days  before,  we  were  not  sure 
he  had  actually  left.  We  therefore  put 
Lincoln's  telegram  in  our  home-made  cipher, 
so  that  if  the  foreign  operator  were  still 
on  our  wire,  the  message  might  not  be 
readily  made  out  by  the  enemy.  At  the  same 
time  extra  precautions  were  taken  by  the  Wash 
ington  authorities  to  guard  against  any  accident 
to  the  President  while  on  his  visit  to  Burn- 
side.  No  record  is  now  found  of  the  actual 
text  of  this  cipher-despatch,  as  finally  prepared 
for  transmission,  but  going  back  over  it  word  for 
word,  I  believe  the  following  is  so  nearly  like  it 
as  to  be  called  a  true  copy: 

Washington,  D.  C.,  November  25,  1862. 

BURNSIDE,  Falmouth,  Virginia :  Can  Inn  Ale  me  withe  2  oar 
our  Ann  pas  Ann  me  flesh  ends  N.  V.  Corn  Inn  out  with  U 
cud  Inn  heaven  day  nest  Wed  roe  Moore  Tom  darkey  hat 
Greek  Why  Hawk  of  Abbott  Inn  B  chewed  I  if.  BATES. 

61 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

By  reading  the  above  backward,  observing  the 
phonetics,  and  bearing  in  mind  that  flesh  is  the 
equivalent  of  meat,  the  real  meaning  is  easily 
found.  It  cannot  be  said  that  this  specimen  ex 
hibits  specially  clever  work  on  the  part  of  the  War 
Department  staff,  nor  is  it  likely  that  the  Confed 
erate  operator,  if  he  overheard  its  transmission, 
had  much  trouble  in  unraveling  its  meaning.  As 
to  this  we  can  only  conjecture. 

Burnside  readily  translated  this  cryptogram,  if 
it  may  be  dignified  with  so  high-sounding  a  name, 
and  replied  in  similar  gibberish  that  he  would 
meet  Lincoln  at  the  place  and  time  specified.  At 
that  meeting  on  the  steamer  Baltimore  was  dis 
cussed  the  plan  of  a  movement  against  Lee's 
intrenchments  which  was  made  three  weeks 
later,  and  which  resulted  in  our  army  being 
repulsed  with  the  loss  of  many  thousands  of 
lives. 

Another  instance  may  be  referred  to  in  which 
a  telegram  from  Lincoln  was  put  into  crude 
cipher  form  of  the  sort  described  above.  On  his 
last  visit  to  the  army  he  wrote  a  despatch  to  the 
Secretary  of  War,  which  Grant's  cipher-operator 
did  not  put  in  our  regular  cipher,  but,  instead, 
transmitted  in  the  following  form: 

62 


CIPHER-CODES   AND   MESSAGES 

City  Point,  Va.,  8:30  A.M.,  April  3,  1865. 
TINKER,  War  Department:  A  Lincoln  its  in  fume  a  in 
hymn  to  start  I  army  treating  there  possible  if  of  cut  too 
forward  pushing  is  He  is  so  all  Richmond  aunt  confide  is 
Andy  evacuated  Petersburg  reports  Grant  morning  this 
Washington  Secretary  War.  BECKWITH. 

The  probable  reason  for  adopting  this  crude  form 
was  to  insure  its  reaching  its  destination  without 
attracting  the  special  attention  of  watchful  oper 
ators  on  the  route  of  the  City  Point- Washington 
wire,  because  at  that  crisis  every  one  was  on  the 
qui  vive  for  news  from  Grant's  advancing  army, 
and  if  the  message  had  been  sent  in  plain  lan 
guage,  the  important  information  it  conveyed 
might  have  been  overheard  in  its  transmission 
and  perhaps  would  have  reached  the  general  pub 
lic  in  advance  of  its  receipt  by  the  War  Depart 
ment. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  give  the  translation  of 
this  cipher-message.  To  use  a  homely  term, 
"Any  one  can  read  it  with  his  eyes  shut."  In  fact, 
the  easiest  way  would  be  for  one  to  shut  the  eyes 
and  let  some  one  else  read  it  backward,  not  too 
slowly.  The  real  wording  then  becomes  plain. 

An  earlier  cipher-despatch  with  which  Lincoln 
had  to  do  during  his  visit  to  City  Point,  was  from 
Sheridan  to  Grant,  about  March  26, 1865.  Sheri- 

63 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

dan,  with  his  entire  cavalry  command,  was  finish 
ing  up  his  great  raid  from  the  Shenandoah  Val 
ley  to  join  Grant's  army  on  the  James,  his  special 
object  being  to  cut  the  railroad  and  canal  to  the 
west  of  Richmond  and  then  strike  to  the  north 
for  the  Pamunkey  at  White  House.  By  the  time 
he  reached  that  point  his  horses  would  be  in  great 
need  of  forage  and  new  shoes.  Accordingly, 
Sheridan  wrote  a  long  despatch  to  Grant,  telling 
him  just  when  to  expect  him  at  White  House, 
and  asking  him  to  direct  General  Ingalls,  quar 
termaster,  to  meet  him  with  plenty  of  forage  for 
men  and  horses,  as  well  as  horse-shoers  with  their 
kits.  Sheridan  then  selected  three  of  his  best 
scouts,  each  taking  a  different  route,  one  south  of 
Richmond,  one  directly  through  that  city,  and  the 
third  to  the  north  of  Lee's  army.  Each  man  had 
a  copy  of  the  despatch  to  Grant,  which  Sheridan's 
expert  cipher-operator,  McCaine,  had  written  in 
small  but  legible  characters  on  tissue-paper.  The 
copy  was  then  rolled  up,  incased  in  tin-foil,  and 
secreted  on  the  scout's  person,  in  one  instance 
resting  in  front  of  his  upper  teeth. 

Lincoln,  with  Mrs.  Lincoln  and  Tad,  had  just 
reached  City  Point  from  Washington.  The  party 
had  been  supplied  with  tents  close  to  the  tele- 

64 


CIPHER-CODES   AND   MESSAGES 

graph  office.  Beckwith — Grant's  cipher-operator 
—told  the  writer  in  November,  1906,  that  a  few 
days  after  the  President's  arrival  at  Grant's  head 
quarters,  the  flap  of  the  telegraph  tent  was  slowly 
turned  back  and  there  appeared  at  the  opening  a 
tall,  slim,  long-haired,  typical  Virginian,  who 
quietly  entered,  and  closed  the  flap,  asking  the 
only  other  occupant  of  the  tent  if  his  name  was 
Beckwith.  Upon  receiving  an  affirmative  an 
swer,  the  stranger,  who  was  dressed  in  butternut 
clothing,  soiled  and  worn  and  incredibly  dusty, 
without  further  word  took  a  small,  round,  tin 
foil-covered  roll  from  his  person  and  handed  it  to 
Beckwith  with  the  single  word,  "McCaine." 

Beckwith  grasped  the  meaning  at  once,  and 
thinking  to  give  the  messenger  a  little  pleasure  in 
return  for  his  faithful  service,  said:  "You  have 
risked  your  life  in  the  cause.  Would  you  not  like 
to  deliver  this  document  direct  to  President  Lin 
coln,  who  is  now  in  the  next  tent?"  The  scout's 
eyes  lighted  up  and  he  nodded  assent.  Beckwith 
then  went  into  Lincoln's  tent  and  told  him  there 
was  a  man  in  the  telegraph  office  who  had  brought 
a  cipher-despatch  from  Sheridan,  and  he  thought 
it  would  be  pleasant  to  have  him  deliver  it  direct 
to  the  President.  Lincoln  took  in  the  situation, 

65 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

and  returning  with  Beck  with  to  the  other  tent, 
greeted  the  scout  pleasantly.  The  latter  then 
handed  the  cipher-roll  to  the  President,  who 
slowly  and  carefully  unwound  it  and  pressing  out 
the  tissue-sheet,  glanced  at  it  long  enough  to  see 
that  the  despatch  was  in  cipher.  He  then  passed 
it  over  to  Beck  with,  remarking  to  the  scout  that 
he  guessed  this  young  man  would  have  to  do 
some  work  on  it  before  it  would  be  of  any  use. 

The  President  then  asked  about  Sheridan's 
whereabouts,  and  the  route  taken  by  the  scout. 
The  latter  told  where  he  had  last  seen  Sheridan 
when  he  received  the  little  packet,  and  added  that 
he  was  a  native  Virginian,  and  had  been  able  to 
come  through  the  city  of  Richmond  without  de 
tection.  After  some  further  conversation  and  an 
expression  of  thanks  from  the  President,  the 
scout  backed  out  of  the  tent  and  disappeared  for 
ever,  so  far  as  Beckwith  knew.  The  other  two 
scouts  were  never  heard  from,  and  were  probably 
captured  by  the  enemy.  Sheridan's  despatch 
was  most  welcome  to  Lincoln  and  Grant,  and 
20,000  horseshoes  and  other  much-needed  sup 
plies  were  soon  on  their  way  to  the  Pamunkey. 

A  few  days  later,  Sheridan,  with  his  chief  of 
staff,  Captain  Forsyth,  rode  over  from  White 

66 


CIPHER-CODES   AND   MESSAGES 

House  to  City  Point.  Robert  Lincoln  informed 
his  father,  who  was  on  the  River  Queen,  that 
"Little  Phil"  had  arrived.  The  President  has 
tened  ashore  and  went  to  Colonel  Bowers's  tent  to 
express  his  personal  congratulations  to  Sheridan, 
which  he  did  in  the  most  sincere  and  graceful 
manner,  winding  up  with  this  remark:  "General 
Sheridan,  when  this  peculiar  war  began  I  thought 
a  cavalryman  should  be  at  least  six  feet  four 
high;  but"— still  holding  Sheridan's  hand  in 
his  earnest  grasp  and  looking  down  upon  the 
little  general—  "I  have  changed  my  mind — 
five  feet  four  will  do  on  a  pinch."  Sheridan 
measured  five  feet  four  and  a  half,  and  at  this 
time  weighed  only  one  hundred  and  forty-one 
pounds  on  the  ground;  but  in  the  saddle  "he 
weighed  a  ton,"  as  his  soldiers  were  wont  to  say. 
At  the  meeting  with  Lincoln  he  appeared  without 
sword,  sash,  belt,  or  epaulets,  and  with  his  old 
brown  slouch-hat  in  his  hand. 


67 


CONFEDERATE  CIPHER-CODES  AND  INTERCEPTED 
DESPATCHES 

LINCOLN  took  a  personal  interest  in  our 
translation  of  the  enemy's  cipher-despatches, 
intercepted  and  brought  to  the  War  Depart 
ment  for  translation,  and  whenever  he  saw  the 
three  of  us  with  our  heads  together  he  knew  that 
we  had  something  on  hand  of  special  interest. 
At  such  times  his  anxiety  would  lead  him  to  ask 
whether  there  was  anything  of  importance  com 
ing  through  the  mill.  One  of  these  occasions  was 
in  1863,  during  the  siege  of  Vicksburg.  General 
Grant's  scouts  had  captured  several  cipher-de 
spatches  from  General  Joe  Johnston,  addressed 
to  General  Pemberton.  The  letter  inclosing  one 
of  them  is  as  follows : 

Headquarters  Department  of  the  Tennessee, 

Near  Vicksburg,  May  25,  1863. 
Col.  J.  C.  Kelton,  Assistant  Adjutant-General, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

COLONEL:  Eight  men,  with  200,000  percussion  caps,  were 
arrested  whilst   attempting  to   get  through   our   lines   into 

68 


CONFEDERATE  CIPHER-CODES 

Vicksburg.  The  inclosed  cipher  was  found  upon  them.  Hav 
ing  no  one  with  me  who  has  the  ingenuity  to  translate  it,  I 
send  it  to  Washington,  hoping  that  some  one  there  may  be 
able  to  make  it  out.  Should  the  meaning  of  this  cipher  be 
made  out,  I  request  a  copy  be  sent  to  me. 
Very  respectfully, 

U.  S.  GRANT,  Major-General. 

INCLOSURE 

Jackson,  May  25,  1863. 

LIEUTENANT  GENERAL  PEMBERTON  :  My  XAFV.  USLX 
was  V  V  U  F  L  S  J  P  by  the  B  R  C  Y  A  (I)  J  200  000  V  E 
G  T.  S  U  A  J.  N  E  R  P.  Z  I  F  M.  It  will  be  G  F  O  E 
C  S  Z  O  (Q)  D  as  they  N  T  Y  M  N  X.  Bragg  M  J  T  P  H 
INZGaQR(K)CMKBSE.  When  it  D  Z  G  J  X. 
I  will  Y  O  I  G.  AS.  Q  H  Y.  N  I  T  W  M  do  you  Y  T  I 
A  M  the  I  I  K  M.  V  F  V  E  Y.  How  and  where  is  the 
JSQMLGUGSFTVE.  HBFYis  your 
R  O  E  E  L.  J.  E.  JOHNSTON. 

When  Grant's  communication  reached  Wash 
ington,  nearly  a  week  after  its  date,  it  was  turned 
over  to  the  cipher-operators,  who  soon  translated 
it  almost  verbatim,  as  follows : 

Jackson,  May  25,  1863. 
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL    PEMBERTON,   Vicksburg:    My- 


was  captured  by  the  picket.  200,000  caps  have  been  sent. 
It  will  be  increased  as  they  arrive.  Bragg  is  sending  a 
division.  When  it  joins  I  will  come  to  you.  What  do  you 
think  the  best  route  ?  How  and  where  is  the  enemy  operat 
ing?  What  is  your  force?  J.  E.  JOHNSTON. 

69 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

At  various  other  times  our  troops  intercepted  de 
spatches,  sent  from  one  Confederate  general  to 
another,  containing  important  information  in  ci 
pher.  As  a  rule,  we  were  able  to  translate  these 
ciphers  after  more  or  less  labor.  They  were  gen 
erally  ordinary  letter  ciphers,  the  letters  of  the  al 
phabet  being  transposed  in  various  ways.  For 
instance,  the  foregoing  despatch  from  General 
Johnston  of  May  25,  was  put  into  a  cipher  the 
key- words  of  which  were  "Manchester  Bluff." 
In  arranging  the  message,  Johnston  wrote  it  out 
with  the  letters  well  spaced,  and  then  on  a  line 
above  he  wrote  in  order  the  letters  forming 
the  key-words  "Manchester  Bluff,"  repeating 
them  as  often  as  necessary  to  the  end  of  his  real 
message.  Then,  by  means  of  an  alphabet  square, 
he  found  one  by  one  the  cipher  letter  for  each  real 
letter,  thus:  beginning  with  the  first  letter  of  the 
key- word,  "M,"  on  the  top  line  of  the  alphabet 
square,  he  ran  down  the  "M"  column  until  he 
came  to  the  first  letter  of  his  real  message,  then 
turning  to  the  left  or  right,  as  prearranged,  he 
found  the  end  letter  (in  the  A  or  Z  column  of 
that  line) ,  and  took  that  end  letter  as  the  first  for 
his  cipher-despatch;  and  so  on  until  all  the  letters 
had  thus  been  couched  in  cipher.  The  reverse 

70 


CONFEDERATE  CIPHER-CODES 

method  would,  of  course,  be  followed  by  the  ad 
dressee. 

In  translating  Johnston's  despatch  we  did  not 
have  the  key- word  to  guide  us,  but  guessed  at  the 
meaning,  trying  first  one  word  and  then  another 
until  by  analogy  we  had  worked  out  the  entire 
message.  In  1884  the  War  Records  Office  pub 
lished  our  translation,  together  with  a  true  copy 
of  the  despatch  in  connection  with  the  key-words 
as  above.1  The  official  copy  is  the  same  as  our 
translation,  with  two  or  three  slight  differences. 

In  other  cases  the  Confederates  did  not  use  the 
alphabet  square,  with  a  key- word,  but  adopted  the 
"Slater"  code  method  of  going  ahead  or  back  in 
the  regular  alphabet  a  certain  number  of  letters, 
as  prearranged.  This  latter  plan  was  followed 
by  Johnston  in  another  despatch  to  Pemberton, 
dated  June  30,  1863,  only  four  days  before  the 
surrender  of  Vicksburg,  which  was  captured  by 
Grant's  scouts  on  the  day  of  its  date,  and  deci 
phered  by  Michael  Mason  of  Waterhouse's  Chi 
cago  Battery.  My  records  do  not  show  the  par 
ticular  code  used  in  preparing  this  despatch. 

On  December  21,  1863,  the  War  Department 
cipher-operafors  were  called  upon  to  unravel  a 

'See  "Official  Records,"  Vol.  XXIV.    Part  1,  pp.  39-40. 

71 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

Confederate  cipher-letter  written  in  New  York 
City  by  a  man  named  J.  H.  Cammack,  and  in 
closed  in  an  envelop  addressed  to  Alex.  Keith, 
Jr.,  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia.  It  had  been  dropped 
in  the  post-office  at  New  York,  and  intercepted 
and  forwarded  to  the  War  Department  by  the 
postmaster,  Abram  Wakeman,  who  had  been 
instructed  by  the  authorities  to  keep  a  sharp 
lookout  for  communications  addressed  to  Keith. 
The  despatch  itself,  when  we  had  translated  it, 
was  found  to  be  intended  for  Judah  P.  Benja 
min,  Confederate  Secretary  of  State,  Richmond, 
Virginia.  This  cipher  (see  facsimile  on  page  73) 
was  wholly  unlike  any  we  had  ever  been  called 
upon  to  translate,  and  the  "Sacred  Three"  puz 
zled  their  brains  for  hours  before  they  succeeded 
in  making  full  sense  out  of  the  jargon,  while  the 
President  hovered  about  us,  anxious  to  know  the 
sequel  of  our  united  cogitations.  A  few  days 
later  a  second  cipher  despatch,  also  inclosed  in 
an  envelop  bearing  Keith's  address  as  above,  was 
intercepted  and  forwarded  to  Washington.  This 
one  was  dated  New  York,  December  22, 1863,  and 
bore  on  the  inside  in  cipher  characters  the  ad 
dress  of  Benjamin  H.  Hill,  Secretary  of  War, 
Richmond.  It  was  also  quickly  deciphered,  and 

72 


CONFEDERATE  CIPHER-CODES 

&  -.  6.  .--  /-  -o. 


v-KK,  <£,©,/•  "=>£>-  r 

"<J    -    •     <D    JT£,&    " 

^L;   <@>  ----  x   -P  r*   =  t 


A  C  ~ 


tc.  -E3  .is  f  ^y.  c^  Q>r  n 

Ql  v-d'xco  t-K>vyf^<iPtcJd,  M  Xntlx,  —  /'  --- 

K  --    —  /',  -X  Kx( 
-  o  3i  A^-*     -i- 


\\\ 


-,...K0«   ------      _,    --  /    -K^  -------  «.. 

->  a,  3  LJ  c,  3  n  •><•  ^i  ->  a  ^,  <  3, 


,<  a  D  ->3  33.  A 


J-  OC  •    O  <D'£  f    ^-  <D  <D  f    ^  —  .....  —    ^_  Sf  ^. 

3  nr<>nn 


Facsimile  of  a  Confederate  cipher-letter 

This  letter  was  dropped  in  the  post-office  at  New  York,  'December  18,  1863, 
addressed  to  Alex.  Keith,  Jr.,  Halifax,  N.  S.  It  was  sent  by  the  New  York 
postmaster,  Abram  Wakeman,  to  the  War  Department  where  it  was  quickly 
translated  by  the  cipher-operators  —  Tinker,  Bates  and  Chandler  —  without  the 
aid  of  the  cipher-key,  a  copy  of  which  will  be  found  on  page  77 

proved  to  be  even  more  important  than  the  first 
one.  The  translations  of  the  two  despatches,  ac 
cording  to  the  record  in  my  war  diary,  were  as 
follows  : 

73 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

N.  Y.,  Dec.  18,  1863. 
HON.  J.  P.  BENJAMIN,  Secretary  of  State,  Richmond,  Va. : 

Willis  is  here.  The  two  steamers  will  leave  here  about 
Christmas.  Lamar  and  Bowers  left  here  via  Bermuda  two 
weeks  ago.  12000  rifled  muskets  came  duly  to  hand  and 
were  shipped  to  Halifax  as  instructed. 

We  will  be  able  to  seize  the  other  two  steamers  as  per 
programme.  Trowbridge  has  followed  the  President's 
orders.  We  will  have  Briggs  under  arrest  before  this 
reaches  you.  Cost  $2000.  We  want  more  money.  How 
shall  we  draw.  Bills  all  forwarded  to  Slidell  and  rects  reed. 
Write  as  before. 

J.  H.  C. 

The  second  cipher  was  prepared  in  the  same  way 
as  the  first,  and  its  translation  is  as  follows : 

New  York,  Dec.  22,  1863. 
Hon.  Benj.  H.  Hill,  Richmond,  Va. 

DEAR  SIR:  Say  to  Memminger  that  Hilton  will  have 
the  machines  all  finished  and  dies  all  cut  ready  for  ship 
ping  by  the  first  of  January.  The  engraving  of  the  plates 
is  superb. 

They  will  be  shipped  via  Halifax  and  all  according  to 
instructions. 

The  main  part  of  the  work  has  been  under  the  immediate 
supervision  of  Hilton,  who  will  act  in  good  faith  in  conse 
quence  of  the  large  amount  he  has  and  will  receive.  The 
work  is  beautifully  done  and  the  paper  is  superb.  A  part 
has  been  shipped  and  balance  will  be  forwarded  in  a  few 
days. 

Send  some  one  to  Nassau  to  receive  and  take  the  machines 
and  paper  through  Florida.  Write  me  at  Halifax.  I  leave 

74 


CONFEDERATE  CIPHER-CODES 

first  week  in  January.  Should  Goodman  arrive  at  Nassau 
please  send  word  by  your  agent  that  he  is  to  await  further 

instructions. 

Yours  truly, 

J.  H.  C.1 

The  man  Cammack,  who  signed  the  two  cipher- 
letters,  made  use  of  six  different  sets  or  alphabets 
of  cryptograms,  but  made  the  error— fatal  to  his 
purpose — of  confining  himself,  as  to  any  given 
word,  to  one  particular  code  or  alphabet,  instead 
of  using  the  six  sets  of  hieroglyphics  inter 
changeably. 

Our  fortunate  and  prompt  translation  of  the 
first  of  these  two  important  despatches  resulted  in 
an  immediate  visit  of  Assistant  Secretary  Dana  to 
New  York  for  conference  with  General  Dix,  with 
the  result  that  in  less  than  a  week  six  or  eight  of 
the  conspirators  were  arrested,  and  a  quantity  of 
arms  and  ammunition  seized,  which  had  been 
packed  in  hogsheads  ostensibly  containing  pro 
visions,  and  which  the  cipher-despatches  indicated 
were  meant  to  be  shipped  on  Atlantic  liners,  a 
number  of  the  conspirators  taking  passage  at  the 
same  time,  their  intention  being  to  suddenly  over 
power  the  crew  after  sailing,  and  then  use  the 

1 A  more  detailed  account  of  these  two  cipher-despatches  ap 
peared  in  "Harper's  Magazine"  for  June,  1898. 

*  75 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

vessel  as  a  privateer  or  run  the  blockade  with  the 
cargo  into  a  Southern  port. 

WHEN  Richmond  fell  into  our  hands  in  April, 
1865,  Assistant  Secretary  of  War  Charles  A. 
Dana  found  among  the  Confederate  archives,  in 
addition  to  the  alphabet  square  code  used  by 
Booth,  referred  to  in  the  latter  part  of  this  chap 
ter,  a  more  complicated  cipher-code  identical  with 
the  key  in  the  hands  of  Cammack,  the  Confed 
erate  agent  in  New  York,  and  which  was  used  by 
him  in  his  two  letters  of  December  18  and  22, 
1863,  above  referred  to.  A  facsimile  of  the  code 
is  shown  on  page  77.  This  code  was  also  used 
between  Canada  and  Richmond  for  important 
despatches  from  and  to  Jacob  Thompson  and  his 
associates,  notably  the  despatch  hereinafter  re 
ferred  to,  dated  October  13,  1864,  from  Thomp 
son  to  Davis,  and  the  latter 's  reply  of  October  19. 
The  War  Department  operators,  however,  man 
aged  to  decipher  all  these  despatches  without  the 
aid  of  an  official  key. 

My  colleague,  Mr.  Tinker,  has  recently  shown 
me  a  letter  which  he  wrote  to  his  mother  on  De 
cember  27,  1863,  giving  an  account  of  the 
translation  of  the  two  Confederate  cipher-de- 

76 


CONFEDERATE  CIPHER-CODES 


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77 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

spatches  of  December  18  and  22,   1863,  from 
which  the  following  extract  is  taken : 

On  December  21,  after  we  had  worked  out  the  first  rebel 
cipher-letter,  it  was  found  to  be  of  such  importance  that  a 
special  cabinet  meeting  was  called,  and  Asst.-Secretary  of 
War,  Chas.  A.  Dana,  was  sent  by  night  train  to  New  York 
to  find  and  arrest  the  conspirators,  which  was  soon  accom 
plished.  On  December  24,  the  second  rebel  cipher  was 
translated  by  us  and  proved  to  be  almost  as  important  as 
the  first  one.  Secretary  Stanton  told  Major  Eckert  he 
would  n't  give  his  cipher-operators  for  the  whole  clerical 
force  of  the  Government.  Asst.-Secretary  of  War  Watson 
came  into  the  cipher-room  and  congratulated  us  in  person 
upon  our  mysterious  success.  He  said  he  would  like  to 
make  us  a  Christmas  gift,  but  could  not  do  so  because  there 
was  no  appropriation  for  such  a  purpose.  He  said,  how 
ever,  that  the  three  of  us  who  translated  the  Cammack- 
Keith  ciphers  would  receive  an  increase  in  our  pay  from 
December  1. 


In  order  to  keep  itself  informed  upon  political 
and  military  matters  in  the  North,  the  Confed 
erate  government  employed  agents,  with  head 
quarters  in  Canada,  who  maintained  secret  com 
munication  with  Richmond,  chiefly  by  means  of 
spies,  who  went  through  our  lines  to  and  fro  in 
the  performance  of  their  very  dangerous  task. 
One  of  these  messengers  was  also  in  the  service 
of  our  Government,  and  as  he  passed  through 

78 


CONFEDERATE  CIPHER-CODES 

Washington  on  his  way  north  or  south,  he  found 
it  necessary  on  each  occasion  to  rest  and  recuper 
ate  for  a  few  hours,  during  which  interval  he 
would  communicate  with  Major  Eckert,  and  al 
low  him  to  inspect  his  budget,  which  was  always 
in  cipher,  and  which,  on  his  northward  trip,  was 
usually  addressed  to  Jacob  Thompson,  one  of  the 
Confederate  agents  at  Clifton,  Ontario.  Two 
extracts  from  my  war  diary  will  suffice  to  show 
the  situation: 


Sunday,  October  16,  1864. 

A  rebel  cipher,  dated  Clifton,  Canada,  October  13,  was 
brought  to  the  War  Department  to-day  from  Jake  Thomp 
son  in  Canada,  addressed  to  Jeff  Davis,  Richmond. 

Thompson  says  that  Washington  is  sufficiently  garrisoned 
to  resist  any  attack  until  reinforced;  that  the  re-election 
of  Lincoln  is  almost  certain  and  he  urges  upon  Davis  the 
necessity  for  the  South  gaining  advantages  over  the  North 
ern  armies. 

Sunday,  October  23,  1864. 

The  rebel  cipher  intercepted  on  October  16th  has  been 
to  Richmond  and  a  reply  from  Jeff  Davis,  dated  October 
19)  returned,  the  carrier  very  kindly  traveling  via  Wash 
ington  and  allowing  us  to  make  a  copy  of  his  precious  docu 
ment.  Davis  says  Longstreet  will  soon  attack  Sheridan 
and  then  move  north  as  far  as  practicable,  toward  unpro 
tected  points. 

79 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

(Note — This  was  done  last  Wednesday,  but  instead  of 
moving  north,  the  enemy  was  compelled  to  retreat  south.) 

Davis  adds  that  a  blow  will  soon  be  struck  near  Richmond 
on  Grant's  army,  that  it  is  not  quite  time.1 

The  movement  by  the  enemy  promised  by  Da 
vis  was  at  first  successful,  our  army  being  forced 
back,  losing  many  guns,  with  "Sheridan  twenty 
miles  away,"  on  his  return  from  a  visit  to  Wash 
ington.  A  special  train  hurried  him  to  the  front, 
and  he  then  made  that  John  Gilpin  ride  cele 
brated  by  T.  Buchanan  Read  in  his  stirring 
poem,  and  the  reorganized  Union  forces  routed 
the  enemy,  commanded  by  Jubal  Early. 

As  stated  in  my  diary,  these  two  cipher-de 
spatches  were  promptly  translated  by  the  War 
Department  cipher-operators,  and  their  contents 
proved  of  much  interest  to  Lincoln,  who  always 
kept  close  tally  on  the  movements,  to  and  fro,  of 
this  messenger,  who  must  have  been  possessed  of 
great  courage,  intelligence,  and  ability,  to  have 
secured  and  held  such  a  responsible  and  confiden 
tial  position  with  both  governments. 

One  of  the  later  Confederate  cipher-de 
spatches  was  from  Clement  C.  Clay,  one  of 

1  Copies  verbatim  of  the  two  despatches  referred  to  may  be 
found  on  page  42  of  the  "Trial  of  the  Conspirators,"  compiled  by 
Pitman. 

80 


CONFEDERATE  CIPHER-CODES 

Thompson's  associates  in  Canada,  and  the  ac 
commodating  messenger,  as  usual,  allowed  us 
to  take  a  copy.  It  was  addressed  to  Judah 
P.  Benjamin,  Secretary  of  State,  Richmond, 
and  was  promptly  translated  by  us.  It  showed 
clearly  that  the  Confederate  agents  were  using 
Canada  as  a  rendezvous  for  raids  into  border 
towns  and  that  the  Canadian  government  offi 
cials  were  favoring  these  movements;  at  least 
secretly.  Secretary  Stanton  directed  the  spy 
to  be  brought,  and  asked  him  one  question  only. 
Major  Johnson,  Stanton's  confidential  secretary, 
says  he  did  not  hear  what  that  question  was,  but 
it  was  short,  and  when  the  man  answered,  in  as 
brief  a  manner,  the  Secretary  dismissed  him,  and 
turning  to  President  Lincoln,  said  we  should  by 
all  means  retain  the  original  document  signed  by 
Clay,  for  use  as  evidence  in  support  of  our  de 
mand  upon  Great  Britain  for  heavy  damages 
sustained  by  us,  in  consequence  of  the  ready  asy 
lum  that  country  was  affording  our  enemies. 

This  occurred  on  a  Sunday,  and  the  President 
had  come  direct  from  Dr.  Gurley's  Presbyterian 
Church,  where  he  had  a  pew,  to  the  War  Depart 
ment,  for  conference  over  the  matter.  Stanton 
was  for  taking  instant  action  and  withholding 

81 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

Clay's  despatch;  but  Assistant  Secretary  Dana 
said  we  had  better  not  break  this  important  line 
of  communication,  as  we  should  do  if  we  failed  to 
allow  the  spy  to  carry  the  despatch  to  Richmond. 

Lincoln,  however,  suggested  a  plan  whereby 
two  birds  might  be  killed  with  one  stone.  He 
said:  "Why  not  allow  the  messenger  to  depart  as 
usual,  and  then  capture  him  in  Virginia  some 
where,  take  the  despatch  from  him,  clap  him  in 
prison,  and  afterward  let  him  escape?"  This 
simple  plan  was  adopted,  and  General  Augur 
was  directed  to  look  out  for  a  Confederate  mes 
senger  on  a  certain  road  that  night.  The  man 
was  captured,  his  papers  were  seized,  and  he 
was  put  in  old  Capitol  Prison,  from  which  he 
soon  escaped  after  being  fired  on  and  wounded 
by  the  guard.  A  reward  for  his  recapture  was 
widely  advertised  in  the  newspapers,  and  when 
he  reported  back  to  Clay  and  Thompson,  glibly 
telling  his  story  and  showing  his  wounds,  his 
word  was  credited,  and  he  resumed  his  double 
service,  trusted  even  more  fully  than  before. 

The  identity  of  this  messenger  was  disclosed 
to  the  public  on  the  trial  of  Mrs.  Surratt,  in  May, 
1865,  when  a  certain  witness  gave  evidence 
against  the  conspirators,  serving  to  show  the 

82 


CONFEDERATE  CIPHER-CODES 

great  value  placed  by  the  Richmond  government 
upon  the  services  of  Clay  and  Thompson  in 
Canada,  who  were  concerned  in  the  scheme  for 
setting  fire  to  certain  Northern  cities,  and  also,  it 
was  believed,  in  the  conspiracy  to  kidnap  Lincoln. 

Apropos  of  secret  despatches  carried  through 
the  lines,  John  H.  Surratt,  then  about  twenty 
years  old,  acted  as  a  Confederate  spy  traveling 
between  Washington  and  the  enemy's  boats  on 
the  lower  Potomac,  carrying  his  despatches 
"sometimes  in  the  heel  of  his  boots  and  sometimes 
between  the  planks  of  a  buggy." 

In  the  waistcoat  pocket  of  John  Wilkes  Booth, 
when  his  body  was  searched  after  he  was  shot, 
was  found  a  copy  of  an  alphabet  square  exactly 
like  the  one  used  by  Johnston  and  other  South 
ern  generals,  and  another  copy  was  found  in  his 
trunk  at  the  National  Hotel,  Washington,  where 
he  last  roomed  before  the  tragedy.  In  my  war 
diary  is  this  entry: 

May  20,  1865. 

I  was  subpoenaed  to-day  as  a  witness  in  the  trial  of  Mrs. 
Surratt,  Payne,  Atzerodt,  and  other  conspirators,  but  did 
not  testify.  Presume  I  will  be  called  next  week.  My  testi 
mony  is  for  the  purpose  of  identifying  the  Cipher  Code 
found  on  Booth's  body  with  that  used  by  Jeff  Davis  and 
the  rebel  generals. 

83 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

In  this  connection  let  us  refer  to  the  official 
report  of  the  "Trial  of  the  Conspirators"  in  May 
and  June,  1865,  compiled  by  Pitman.  On  pages 
41  and  42  is  given  the  testimony  of  Lieut.  W.  H. 
Terry,  Wm.  Eaton,  Charles  Duell,  Colonel  Jos. 
H.  Taylor,  Charles  A.  Dana,  and  General 
Eckert,  which,  taken  altogether,  prove  that  the 
alphabet  square  cipher,  at  least  three  copies  of 
which  were  in  the  possession  of  Booth  and  his  co- 
conspirators,1  was  identical  with  one  of  the  two 
cipher-keys  found  by  Mr.  Dana  in  the  office  of  Ju- 
dah  P.  Benjamin,  Confederate  Secretary  of  State 
at  Richmond,  on  April  6,  1865,  three  days  after 

1  Duell  identified  at  the  trial  a  cipher-letter  dated  Washington, 
D.  C.,  April  15,  written  by  one  of  Booth's  band  to  another  one  in 
North  Carolina,  to  whom,  apparently,  had  been  assigned  the  task  of 
assassinating  General  Sherman.  Duell  testified  that  he  had  found 
this  letter  at  Moorehead  City,  North  Carolina,  and  that  with  the 
help  of  a  friend  he  had  deciphered  it  by  means  of  the  alphabet 
square. 

The  following  is  a  copy  of  DuelPs  translation  of  the  above- 
mentioned  letter,  with  unimportant  parts  omitted: 

Washington,  D.  C.,  April  the  15,  '65. 
John  W.  Wise. 

DEAR  JOHX:  I  am  happy  to  inform  you  that  Pet  has  done  his 
work  well.  He  is  safe  and  old  Abe  is  in  hell.  Now  sir,  all  eyes 
are  on  you.  You  must  bring  Sherman— Grant  is  in  the  hands  of 
old  Gray  ere  this.  Red  Shoes  showed  lack  of  nerve  in  Seward's 
case  but  fell  back  in  good  order.  Johnson  must  come.  Old  Crook 

has  him  in  charge  .  .  .  Old  always  behind,  lost  the  pop  at 

City   Point  .  .  .  No.   Two   will   give   you  this  .  .  .  (signed)    No. 
FIVE. 

84 


CONFEDERATE  CIPHER-CODES 

the  evacuation  of  that  city.  That  evidence  also 
shows  that  the  same  cipher-code  was  used  in  1864 
(and  no  doubt  at  other  times)  for  official  de 
spatches  between  President  Davis  and  Secretary 
of  State  Benjamin  at  Richmond,  and  the  Con 
federate  agents,  Thompson,  Clay,  Holcombe, 
and  Saunders  in  Canada.  It  is  inconceivable 
that  Booth  was  not  supplied  with  this  cipher-code 
by  the  Confederate  government,  although  it  does 
not  follow  that  President  Davis  or  any  of  his 
cabinet  had  any  previous  knowledge  of  the  assas 
sination  plot.1 

1  A  more  detailed  reference  to  this  secret  agency  will  be  made  in 
a  subsequent  chapter  on  "The  Attempt  to  Burn  New  York.  ' 


85 


VI 

IN  THE  FIRST  MONTHS  OF  THE  WAR 

MY  first  assignment  to  duty  was  at  the  Navy 
Yard  under  Captain,  afterward  Admiral, 
Dahlgren,  who  directed  the  sergeant  of  the  guard 
to  keep  a  sentry  in  front  of  the  door  leading  to 
the  telegraph  room,  and  to  allow  no  one  to  enter 
or  leave.  These  orders  were  obeyed  literally,  and 
for  four  days  I  was  virtually  a  prisoner,  my  fru 
gal  meals  being  sent  to  my  room.  The  confine 
ment  became  so  irksome  that  on  one  occasion  I 
locked  the  door  and  climbed  out  of  the  window; 
but  on  my  return  by  the  same  route,  the  sentry 
overheard  the  noise  I  made,  and  when  I  opened 
the  door  he  warned  me  that  the  manoeuver  could 
be  repeated  only  at  the  risk  of  a  shot  from  his 
gun. 

Early  in  May  I  was  transferred  to  Annapolis 
Junction,  where  on  the  night  of  the  10th  I  was 
roused  from  bed  by  General  Butler,  who  ordered 
me  to  open  the  telegraph  office  and  keep  the  rail- 

86 


IN  THE  FIRST  MONTHS  OF  THE  WAR 

road  track  clear  to  Annapolis  for  the  train  carry 
ing  Ross  Winans,  whom  he  had  that  day  arrested 
in  Baltimore  for  treason.  I  continued  to  call  the 
Annapolis  office  for  several  hours,  but  finally 
concluded  that  General  Butler's  train  had  safely 
reached  its  destination  or  else  had  encountered 
obstacles  which  I  could  not  hope  to  remove.  I 
returned  to  the  War  Department  on  May  24, 
and  remained  there  on  continuous  duty  until  a 
year  after  the  close  of  the  war,  excepting  for  two 
weeks  in  June,  1864,  when  I  served  as  cipher- 
operator  for  General  Grant  at  City  Point,  Vir 
ginia. 

In  May,  1861,  the  telegraph  office  was  moved 
from  the  chief  clerk's  room  to  the  entresol,  or 
first  landing,  of  the  stairway  leading  to  the  sec 
ond  story  of  the  War  Department  building,  a 
railing  having  been  erected  to  inclose  the  tele 
graph-instruments  and  secure  some  measure  of 
seclusion.  The  inner  space  was  small  and,  dur 
ing  the  disastrous  days  of  Bull  Run,  when  Lin 
coln  came  to  the  office,  remaining  for  hours  at  a 
time  with  General  Scott  and  one  or  more  mem 
bers  of  his  cabinet,  the  place  was  so  crowded  that 
the  operators  found  it  difficult  to  attend  properly 
to  their  work. 

87 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

On  Sunday,  July  21,  when  the  battle  of  Bull 
Run  was  fought,  the  military  telegraph-line  had 
reached  Fairfax  Court-house,  and  an  impro 
vised  office  had  been  opened  at  that  point.  Com 
munication  with  General  McDowell's  headquar 
ters  at  the  front  was  maintained  by  means  of  a 
corps  of  mounted  couriers,  organized  by  Andrew 
Carnegie,  under  the  immediate  direction  of  Wil 
liam  B.  Wilson,  who  then  served  as  our  manager. 
These  couriers  passed  back  and  forth  all  day  long 
between  Fairfax  and  the  front.  Lincoln  hardly 
left  his  seat  in  our  office  and  waited  with  deep 
anxiety  for  each  succeeding  despatch.  At  times 
during  the  awful  day,  General  Scott  would  con 
fer  with  the  President  or  Secretary  Cameron  for 
a  short  period,  and  then  depart  to  put  into  effect 
some  urgent  measures  for  protecting  the  capital. 

Wilson  says  of  these  events:1 

The  group  was  composed  on  President  Lincoln,  Secre 
taries  Seward,  Cameron,  Chase,  Welles,  Attorney-General 
Bates,  General  Mansfield,  Colonels  Townsend,  Van  Rens- 
selaer,  Hamilton  and  Wright  of  Lieutenant-General  Scott's 
staff,  and  Colonel  Thomas  A.  Scott.  With  maps  of  the 
field  before  them  they  watched,  as  it  were,  the  conflict  of 
arms  as  it  progressed,  at  the  same  time  keeping  up  a  run 
ning  desultory  conversation. 

1  "Acts  and  Actors  in  the  Civil  War."  By  William  Bender  Wil 
son,  p.  48. 

88 


From  a  photograph  by  Brady 

Colonel  Thomas  A.  Scott,  Assistant  Secretary  of  War,  186 


IN  THE  FIRST  MONTHS  OF  THE  WAR 

All  the  morning  and  well  along  into  the 
afternoon,  McDowell's  telegrams  were  more  or 
less  encouraging,  and  Lincoln  and  his  advisers 
waited  with  eager  hope,  believing  that  Beaure- 
gard  was  being  pushed  back  to  Manassas  Junc 
tion;  but  all  at  once  the  despatches  ceased  com 
ing.  At  first  this  was  taken  to  mean  that 
McDowell  was  moving  farther  away  from  the 
telegraph,  and  then,  as  the  silence  became  pro 
longed,  a  strange  fear  seized  upon  the  assembled 
watchers  that  perhaps  all  was  not  well.  Sud 
denly  the  telegraph-instrument  became  alive 
again,  and  the  short  sentence,  "Our  army  is  re 
treating,"  was  spelled  out  in  the  Morse  charac 
ters.  This  brief  announcement  was  followed  by 
meager  details  concerning  the  first  great  disaster 
that  had  befallen  our  troops  and  the  panic  that 
followed. 

The  crowded  telegraph  office  was  quickly  de 
serted  by  all  except  the  operators,  but  Lincoln 
returned  at  intervals  until  after  midnight,  and 
shortly  afterward  the  outlying  office  at  Fairfax 
Court-house  was  abandoned.  When  morning 
dawned,  our  demoralized  troops  began  to  strag 
gle,  and  then  to  pour,  in  an  ever-increasing  stream 
of  frightened  humanity  over  Long  Bridge  into 

91 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

Washington,  the  immediate  capture  of  which 
seemed  then  to  be,  and  really  was,  within  the 
power  of  the  Confederate  army,  if  only  they 
had  pressed  their  advantage.  Consternation 
reigned  supreme,  and  all  realized  that  a  great 
crisis  of  the  war,  the  next  after  Surnter,  was  upon 
us. 

The  dark  clouds  that  settled  at  that  time  upon 
Lincoln's  already  wrinkled  brow  were  destined 
never  to  lift  their  heavy  weight,  except  for  that 
all  too  brief  period  of  exaltation,  just  before  his 
tragic  ending,  when  Grant  had  pushed  Lee  to 
Appomattox,  and  Richmond  was  at  last  in  our 
hands. 

On  March  28,  1907,  a  Reunion  Dinner  was 
given  at  the  Hotel  Manhattan  in  New  York, 
which  was  attended  by  about  fifty  of  the  surviv 
ors  of  the  United  States  Military  Telegraph 
Corps.  Mr.  Andrew  Carnegie,  one  of  the  mem 
bers,  in  his  address  said  that  "not  a  single  tele 
graph  operator  was  among  the  frightened  mob 
that  crowded  the  railroad  trains  for  Alexandria, 
when  the  stampede  occurred  at  the  first  battle  of 
Bull  Run."  Charles  W.  Jaques,  now  of  Ashta- 
bula,  Ohio,  also  present  at  that  dinner,  afterward 
said  in  a  letter  to  the  writer: 

92 


IN  THE  FIRST  MONTHS  OF  THE  WAR 

I  was  a  boy  of  sixteen  when  that  battle  occurred,  and 
was  stationed  at  Springfield,  Virginia,  not  far  from  the 
scene  of  action.  I  told  the  War  Department  office  of  the 
retreat  of  the  Union  Army,  saying  that  those  who  passed 
my  office  first,  were  wounded  soldiers,  a  few  at  a  time,  then 
squads  of  soldiers,  followed  later  by  companies  and  regi 
ments.  I  added  that  I  was  going  to  close  my  office,  and  go 
with  the  crowd.  The  following  telegram  came  back  at  once : 
"War  Department,  Washington,  to  Jaques,  operator, 
Springfield,  If  you  keep  your  office  open  until  you  have 
permission  to  close  it,  you  will  be  rewarded.  If  you  close  it 
without  such  permission,  you  will  be  shot.  Thos.  A. 
Scott."  So  I  remained,  giving  the  War  Department  all  the 
information  obtainable  until  the  entire  army,  including 
wounded  and  stragglers  had  passed  by.  It  was  8  A.M. 
Monday,  July  22,  when  my  office  was  closed  and  I  left  for 
Washington.  My  reward  was  a  leave  of  absence  for  two 
weeks  to  visit  my  home  in  Ohio,  with  free  transportation 
and  three  months'  pay,  all  in  twenty-dollar  gold  pieces. 

Our  Bull  Run  experience  in  the  telegraph  of 
fice  showed  the  necessity  for  more  room  and  a 
location  where  the  operators  would  be  free  from 
outside  observation;  so  we  were  transferred  to  a 
large  room  on  the  first  floor. 

Lincoln  visited  us  frequently  in  this  room,  and 
from  its  windows,  in  September,  1861,  watched  his 
friend  Colonel  E.  D.  Baker,  with  his  brigade,  in 
cluding  the  so-called  California  regiment  (71st 
Pennsylvania  Volunteers)  marching  out  on  his 
way  to  Ball's  Bluff  and  death.  Lincoln  also 

6  93 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

made  daily  visits  during  this  period  to  McClel- 
lan's  headquarters  on  Fifteenth  Street,  to  which 
wires  had  been  run  and  the  telegraph  placed  in 
charge  of  Thomas  T.  Eckert,  who  had  been  ap 
pointed  captain  and  assistant  aide-de-camp. 
Eckert's  written  instructions  from  Secretary 
Cameron  (possibly  at  McClellan's  request)  were 
to  deliver  all  military  telegrams  received  at 
Washington  to  the  commanding  general;  and 
this  order,  in  at  least  one  case,  caused  Eckert  to 
keep  from  Lincoln's  knowledge  a  despatch  of 
great  importance,  as  will  be  explained  below. 

On  October  21,  1861,  a  message  from  General 
Stone,  near  Poolsville,  was  received  at  army 
headquarters  over  the  hastily  constructed  tele 
graph-line,  stating  that  his  troops  had  moved 
across  the  Potomac  at  Edward's  Ferry,  and  after 
an  encounter  with  the  enemy  had  been  repulsed 
with  considerable  loss  including  Colonel  E.  D. 
Baker,  who  was  killed.  McClellan  not  being  in 
his  office  Eckert  started  out  to  find  him,  taking 
from  the  stable  the  sole  remaining  horse,  an  ugly- 
tempered  mare,  dubbed  the  "man-killer."  He 
rode  over  to  Fitz-John  Porter's  headquarters 
across  the  Potomac,  where  he  learned  that 
McClellan  had  returned  to  the  city.  Eckert  came 

94 


IN  THE  FIRST  MONTHS  OF  THE  WAR 

back  and  finding  that  McClellan  had  gone  to  the 
White  House,  dismounted,  walked  across  Lafay 
ette  Square  and,  in  Lincoln's  presence,  delivered 
the  message  to  McClellan,  who  did  not  tell  the 
President  what  it  contained. 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  in  the  early  part 
of  the  war,  before  Lincoln's  unique  personality 
and  masterly  qualities  became  known  to  the  mem 
bers  of  his  cabinet,  heads  of  departments,  and 
others,  his  freedom  of  intercourse  with  the  pub 
lic  and  the  readiness  with  which  he  gave  out  mili 
tary  information  had  been  taken  advantage  of 
by  newspaper  correspondents  and  others. 

From  McClellan's  "Own  Story"  we  learn  that 
he  had  no  confidence  in  Lincoln's  military  ability 
or  discretion,  and  that  he  believed  information 
communicated  to  him  would  be  divulged  to  con 
gressmen  and  others,  and  he  therefore  thought  it 
best  to  give  him  as  little  news  as  possible. 

Soon  after  the  delivery  of  Stone's  despatch  to 
McClellan,  Lincoln  came  to  headquarters  and 
asked  Eckert  if  he  had  any  late  despatches  from 
the  front.  Eckert  was  in  a  quandary.  He  re 
called  the  peculiar  wording  of  his  order  of  ap 
pointment,  and  as  McClellan  had  not  seen  fit  to 
disclose  the  contents  of  Stone's  despatch,  he  did 

95 


Of   THf 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

not  feel  that  he  was  warranted  in  doing  so.  Ac 
cordingly  he  gave  the  evasive  answer  that  there 
was  nothing  on  file.  Lincoln  then  went  into 
McClellan's  room  and  there  saw  the  despatch  for 
the  first  time.  On  his  way  out,  passing  Eckert's 
desk,  he  asked  him  why  he  had  withheld  the  infor 
mation.  Eckert  thereupon  told  the  President 
what  his  written  orders  on  the  subject  were,  and 
explained  that  when  he  saw  Mr.  Lincoln  enter 
the  office  he  had  deftly  placed  the  copy  of  the  de 
spatch  under  the  blotter,  so  that  when  he  made  his 
reply  to  the  President  he  had  told  the  truth,  but 
not  all  the  truth.  Thereafter,  when  told  there  was 
no  news,  Lincoln  would  sometimes  slyly  remark : 
"Is  there  not  something  under  the  blotter?" 

Eckert  says  that  when  Lincoln  heard  of  the 
death  of  his  old  friend,  Colonel  Baker,  he  seemed 
greatly  depressed. 

Charles  Carlton  Coffin,  a  newspaper  writer  of 
note,  said  of  this  incident:1 

I  doubt  if  any  other  of  the  many  tragic  events  of  Lin 
coln's  life  ever  stunned  him  so  much  as  that  unheralded 
message,  which  came  over  the  wires  while  he  was  beside 
the  instrument  on  that  mournful  day,  October  21,  1861.2 

1  "Reminiscences  of  Lincoln,"  compiled  by  Allan  Thorndike  Rice. 

2  It  will  be  observed  from  Eckert's  account  that  Lincoln  was  not 
in  the  telegraph  office  at  the  precise  moment  when  General  Stone's 
message  was  received. 

96 


IN  THE  FIRST  MONTHS  OF  THE  WAR 

Colonel  Baker  had  succeeded  Lincoln  in  Con 
gress,  and  between  the  two  there  had  always  been 
a  close  friendship,  which  was  formed  during  the 
years  in  which  they  had  practised  law  in  Illinois. 
Lincoln's  second  son,  who  died  in  1853,  had  been 
named  Edward  Baker  Lincoln.  The  President, 
no  doubt,  keenly  felt  the  death  of  his  friend  as  a 
great  personal  loss;  and,  besides,  it  must  have 
helped  to  make  him  realize  that  the  terrible  strug 
gle  in  which  the  country  was  engaged  would  de 
mand  the  sacrifice  of  many  more  such  useful 
lives. 

Reverting  again  to  Eckert's  explanation  re 
garding  the  withholding  of  Stone's  message  from 
Lincoln,  he  says  the  President  made  no  criticism 
of  his  action;  but  upon  more  careful  reflection 
Eckert  concluded  he  had  made  a  mistake  because 
as  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Army,  Lincoln 
outranked  both  the  Secretary  of  War  and  the 
commanding  general. 

On  November  1,  1861,  the  President  issued  an 
order  placing  Lieutenant- General  Winfield  Scott 
upon  the  retired  list,  and  appointing  Major- Gen 
eral  George  B.  McClellan  to  the  command  of  the 
army  of  the  United  States  in  his  place. 

On  November  8, 1861,  Captain  Charles  Wilkes, 
97 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

commanding  the  United  States  war-ship,  San 
Jacinto,  overhauled  the  English  mail  steamer 
Trent,  which  had  sailed  from  Havana  the  day 
before,  having  as  passengers  Mason  and  Slidell, 
Confederate  commissioners,  sent  to  seek  from 
England  and  France  recognition  of  the  Confed 
eracy.  By  a  show  of  force  Captain  Wilkes  com 
pelled  the  English  captain  to  surrender  the  two 
envoys.  The  seizure  was  not  warranted  by  inter 
national  law,  but  it  seemed  right  and  proper  to 
the  zealous  sailor,  who  carried  his  prisoners  to 
Boston,  arriving  there  November  24.  The 
entire  North  indorsed  the  seizure,  and  Congress, 
immediately  on  assembling  in  December,  unani 
mously  passed  a  resolution  of  thanks  to  Captain 
Wilkes  for  "his  brave,  adroit  and  patriotic  con 
duct,"  and  requested  the  President  to  place  the 
two  envoys  in  solitary  confinement. 

When  the  despatch  announcing  the  arrival  at 
Boston  of  the  San  Jacinto,  and  giving  an  ac 
count  of  the  boarding  of  the  British  vessel  and 
the  capture  of  Mason  and  Slidell,  reached  the 
War  Department,  a  conference  was  at  once  held 
in  the  telegraph  office,  Lincoln  being  present  with 
his  cabinet  and  several  senators.  I  have  read 
somewhere  that  a  prominent  senator  or  member 

98 


IN  THE  FIRST  MONTHS  OF  THE  WAR 

of  the  cabinet,  whose  identity  does  not  appear, 
was  for  hanging  the  two  men,  and  then  apologiz 
ing  to  Great  Britain  afterward.  Each  of  the 
company  present,  with  the  exception  of  the  Presi 
dent  and  one  other,  whose  name  is  not  recorded, 
expressed  the  opinion  that  Captain  Wilkes  did  a 
brave  and  right  thing  in  overhauling  the  British 
vessel  and  seizing  the  two  emissaries. 

Lincoln,  however,  was  wise  enough  to  realize 
that  we  were  in  the  fault,  and  that  we  could  not 
hope  to  hold  the  envoys,  when  England  should 
demand  their  release,  which  it  was  certain  she 
would  do.  His  longer  vision  also  enabled  him  to 
see  that  by  yielding  up  our  prisoners,  with  an 
apology  to  Great  Britain,  we  should  place  her  in 
such  a  position  that  she  must  keep  her  hands  off 
our  domestic  affairs.  After  a  brief  corre 
spondence  between  Secretary  Seward  and  the 
British  government,  we  released  Mason  and 
Slidell,  confessed  that  the  act  was  wrong,  or, 
rather,  that  it  was  an  inadvertence,  and  at  one 
stroke  brought  England  to  acknowledge  the 
rights  of  neutrals,  her  failure  to  do  which,  had 
caused  the  War  of  1812. 

This  was  one  of  many  occasions  when  the  War 
Department  telegraph  office  was  the  scene  of  a 

99 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

historic  conference.  One  reason  why  this  was  so, 
aside  from  the  fact  that  news  of  many  important 
and  controlling  events  first  reached  the  Govern 
ment  by  telegraph  through  the  medium  of  that 
office,  was  that  the  War  Department  building 
adjoined  the  Navy  Department  and  the  head 
quarters  of  the  commanding  general,  all  three 
locations  being  nearer  the  White  House  than  the 
Treasury  or  other  departments.  It  was  there 
fore  easier  for  the  President  to  bring  a  majority 
of  his  cabinet  together  in  the  War  Department 
than  anywhere  else,  not  even  excepting  the  White 
House. 


100 


VII 


McCLELLAN  S  DISAGREEMENTS  WITH  THE 
ADMINISTRATION 

IT  is  not  within  the  scope  of  this  work,  nor 
would  it  appear  advisable  otherwise,  to  add 
anything  to  the  great  mass  of  testimony  in  favor 
of  or  against  General  McClellan  in  the  wordy 
contest  between  his  friends  and  critics ;  but  it  may 
be  worth  while  to  cast  a  few  side-lights  upon  the 
controversy  from  the  sources  of  information 
available  to  the  telegraph  staff  at  the  War  De 
partment;  bearing  in  mind  the  reasonable  pre 
sumption  that  the  slight  amount  of  testimony 
here  produced  is  from  one  who  may  be  considered 
a  prejudiced  witness. 

In  the  previous  chapter  reference  has  been 
made  to  McClellan's  "Own  Story,"  in  which  he 
gives  his  version  of  the  innumerable  and  in  fact 
almost  continual  differences  with  Lincoln  and 
Stanton. 

It  is  trite  to  say  that  McClellan  began  his  mili 
tary  career  in  the  Civil  War  period  under  ex- 

101 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

traordinarily  favorable  conditions,  and  that  Lin 
coln  had  so  high  an  opinion  of  his  abilities  as 
to  raise  him — a  man  only  thirty-five  years  of  age 
—to  the  position  of  Commanding  General  of  the 
United  States  Army  to  succeed  General  Win- 
field  Scott,  whose  first  laurels  were  gained  at 
Lundy's  Lane  in  1812.  And  yet,  within  less 
than  six  months,  the  relations  between  the 
Administration  and  McClellan  had  become  so 
strained  that  the  good  President  was  forced  to 
write  him  a  conciliatory  letter,  the  opening  words 
of  which  are  these : 

Washington,  April  9,  1862. 
Major-General  McClellan. 

MY  DEAR  SIR  :  Your  despatches,  complaining  that  you  are 
not  properly  sustained,  while  they  do  not  offend  me,  do 
pain  me  very  much. 

The  entire  letter  seems  to  show  very  clearly  the 
extreme  tension  that  existed ;  but  the  cause  of  the 
tension  was  elsewhere  than  in  the  President,  who 
in  closing  says: 

I  beg  to  assure  you  that  I  have  never  written  you  or 
spoken  to  you  in  greater  kindness  of  feeling  than  now,  nor 
with  a  fuller  purpose  to  sustain  you,  so  far  as  in  my  most 
anxious  judgment  I  consistently  can;  but  you  must  act. 

Yours  very  truly, 

A.  LINCOLN. 
102 


McCLELLAN'S  DISAGREEMENTS 

So  far  as  may  be  judged  from  telegraphic 
data  the  estrangement — if  it  may  be  so  termed— 
first  showed  itself  when  McClellan  decided  upon 
his  Richmond  campaign  by  way  of  the  Peninsula 
instead  of  the  direct  land  route,  and  when  he 
proposed  to  take  McDowell's  army  with  him, 
thus,  in  the  opinion  of  the  President  and  Secre 
tary  of  War,  leaving  Washington  inadequately 
protected.  The  gap  widened  when  McClellan's 
independent  course  of  action  drew  to  his  side 
political  allies,  who  took  advantage  of  the  situa 
tion  by  tendering  their  partizan  advice  to  the 
young  "Napoleon"  —as  he  was  called  by  ardent 
admirers— and  by  offering  him  support. 

In  the  latter  part  of  April,  1862,  Eckert 
was  ordered  by  Stanton  to  go  to  Fort 
Monroe  to  look  after  telegraph  matters,  and 
while  there  several  long  messages  were  received 
from  New  York  City,  addressed  to  McClellan, 
whose  headquarters  were  at  White  House  on  the 
Pamunkey,  about  twenty  miles  from  Richmond. 
These  messages  were  signed  by  a  prominent  New 
Yorker,  who  was  then  chairman  of  the  National 
Democratic  Committee,  and  were  of  such  an  ex 
traordinary  character  that  Eckert,  on  his  own 
responsibility,  concluded  not  to  forward  them  over 

103 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

the  headquarters  line,  but  to  hold  them  until  he 
could  deliver  them  in  person.  In  effect,  they 
advised  McClellan  to  disregard  interference  by 
the  Administration  with  army  matters,  and  to 
act  on  his  own  judgment.  In  that  case,  his  ad 
viser  said,  he  would  be  sustained  by  the  people  of 
the  North,  who  were  becoming  weary  of  having 
military  affairs  directed  by  civilians  at  Washing 
ton. 

Before  Eckert  could  go  to  McClellan's  head 
quarters,  the  President  and  Secretary  of  War, 
with  Assistant  Secretary  Fox  of  the  Navy, 
came  to  Fort  Monroe,  in  order  to  be  on  hand 
when  the  movement  against  Norfolk  should  be 
made.  That  movement  resulted  (on  May  10) 
in  the  capture  of  Norfolk  by  the  Union  forces, 
and  the  blowing  up  of  the  Confederate  ram 
Merrimac.  Eckert  showed  the  messages  to  Stan- 
ton,  who  asked  if  any  answers  had  been  sent. 
Eckert  said  no,  because  the  messages  had  not  yet 
been  delivered  to  McClellan. 

Stanton  then  called  Lincoln's  attention  to  the 
matter,  and,  after  a  long  discussion,  it  was  decided 
to  have  Eckert  go  to  White  House  Landing, 
and  deliver  the  delayed  messages  to  McClel 
lan.  This  was  done,  and  when  the  General  read 

104 


McCLELLAN'S  DISAGREEMENTS 

them,  he  asked  whether  they  had  been  with 
held  by  order  of  Stariton.  Eckert  said  no;  that 
Stanton  had  not  seen  them,  nor  had  he  known 
anything  about  them  until  that  very  morn 
ing. 

McClellan  said:  "Thank  God,  Major,  that 
Stanton  had  a  man  in  your  position  who  not  only 
had  the  good  sense,  but  the  courage  to  suppress 
these  messages!"  McClellan  added,  that  if  he 
had  received  them  promptly,  he  would  have  felt 
compelled  to  make  some  reply  that  would  prob 
ably  have  placed  him  in  a  false  position.  McClel 
lan  then  sat  down  and  wrote  a  letter  to  Stanton, 
stating  that  he  was  glad  that  Eckert  had  withheld 
the  messages,  and  that  he  had  not  received  any 
others  of  a  similar  kind. 

McClellan  not  only  suffered  from  the  injudi 
cious  suggestions  and  the  adulation  of  his  poli 
tical  admirers,  but  also  from  the  indiscretions  of 
his  father-in-law,  General  Marcy,  Inspector- 
General  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  who  was 
naturally  ambitious  for  the  success  of  his  son-in- 
law.  About  the  end  of  May,  1862,  when  our 
army  was  moving  toward  Richmond,  a  consid 
erable  skirmish  took  place,  at  first  resulting  in 
our  favor.  McClellan  being  at  the  front,  Marcy, 

105 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

at  headquarters,  wrote  a  glowing  and  exagger 
ated  account  of  the  incipient  battle,  and  sent  it 
to  Washington  over  McClellan's  name. 

Shortly  afterward  other  despatches,  also  over 
McClellan's  signature,  were  received  stating  that 
our  troops  had  been  defeated  with  considerable 
loss,  no  allusion  being  made  to  the  previous  fav 
orable  news. 

It  was  just  at  this  time  that  the  question  of 
McClellan's  removal  from  command  of  the  army 
was  being  considered  by  Lincoln  and  Stanton. 
The  latter  sent  for  the  President  and  showed  him 
the  two  contrary  despatches,  and  urged  that  the 
removal  should  be  ordered  at  once.  Eckert,  who 
was  present,  ventured  the  opinion  that  the  word 
ing  of  the  first  despatch  was  unlike  McClellan's 
usual  diction  and  that  perhaps  he  had  not  written 
or  authorized  it.  Lincoln  said  he  thought  so  too, 
and  that  it  would  be  well  to  find  out  the  facts  be 
fore  further  judgment  was  passed  upon  McClel- 
lan.  He  added  that  Eckert  had  better  go  in  per 
son  to  McClellan's  headquarters  and  learn  all  the 
facts  on  the  ground.  Stanton  thereupon  directed 
Eckert  to  apply  to  Colonel  Rucker,  Assistant- 
Quartermaster,  for  a  boat  to  carry  him  that  after 
noon  to  the  Pamunkey.  Eckert  arrived  at  Mc- 

106 


McCLELLAN'S  DISAGREEMENTS 

Clellan's  headquarters  about  two  o'clock  the  fol 
lowing  morning  and  found  Colonel  Colburn,  one 
of  McClellan's  aides-de-camp,  who  took  him  di 
rectly  to  McClellan's  tent.  The  General,  clad 
only  in  a  red  flannel  shirt  and  drawers,  awoke, 
and  rubbing  his  eyes,  asked  what  was  up.  Eckert 
showed  him  a  copy  of  the  two  telegrams  received 
at  the  War  Department,  and  told  McClellan  that 
it  was  believed  the  first  one  was  a  forgery,  and 
that  Secretary  Stanton  had  sent  him  down  to  find 
out  the  facts. 

McClellan  said  he  had  not  sent  the  first  tele 
gram,  and  could  offer  no  explanation  at  the 
moment.  He  asked  Eckert  to  get  the  original  at 
the  telegraph  office.  Eckert  found  Caldwell,  the 
cipher-operator,  asleep  on  a  cot,  who,  when  shown 
the  troublesome  despatch,  said  that  it  had  been 
handed  in  the  day  before  by  General  Marcy,  and 
as  it  was  signed  "Geo.  B.  McClellan,"  he  had 
every  reason  to  believe  it  was  duly  authorized. 
Eckert  asked  Caldwell  to  indorse  these  facts 
upon  the  back  of  the  copy,  and  then  returned  to 
McClellan,  who  for  the  second  time  within  a 
month  acknowledged  his  obligation  to  the  Mili 
tary  Telegraph  Corps  for  protecting  him  against 
his  friends,  whose  indiscretions  had  already  caused 

107 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

more  or  less  trouble  and  friction  between  the 
War  Department  and  himself. 

One  must  believe  that  McClellan  at  that  time 
was  sincere  in  this  expression  of  friendly  feeling 
toward  the  Administration,  although  we  know 
that  after  the  bloody  Seven  Days'  fighting,  and 
when  his  nearly  demoralized  army  had  been 
brought  to  the  banks  of  the  James  at  Harrison's 
Landing,  he  had  drifted  into  an  attitude  of  open 
hostility  to  the  Administration,  and  had  brought 
railing  accusations  against  the  Washington  au 
thorities.1 

On  February  25,  1862,  Secretary  Stanton,  be 
cause  of  the  premature  publication  in  the  news 
papers  of  important  military  movements,  ap 
pointed  Edwards  S.  Sanford,  president  of  the 
American  Telegraph  Company,  to  the  position 
of  military  supervisor  of  telegrams. 

Sanford's  relations  with  the  newspapers 
were  always  cordial  and  pleasant,  notwith 
standing  the  delicate  and  sometimes  trying 
position  of  military  censor.  What  'his  blue 
pencil  erased  from  press  reports  had  to  be 
left  out,  and  reporters  frequently  spent  hours 

JSee  his  telegram  of  June  28,  1862,  on  page  424  of  his  "Own 
Story"  of  this  campaign,  referred  to  on  the  following  page. 

108 


McCLELLAN'S  DISAGREEMENTS 

in  procuring  some  choice  bit  of  news  which  was 
never  transmitted  over  the  wires.  Sanford  even 
took  liberties  with  an  official  telegram  from  Gen 
eral  McClellan  addressed  to  Secretary  Stanton 
announcing  the  retreat  of  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  to  the  banks  of  the  James. 

The  following  is  a  copy,  in  part,  of  this  re 
markable  despatch,  taken  from  the  official  report 
of  General  McClellan. 

Savage's  Station, 

June  28,  1862,  12:20  A.M. 
HON.  EDWIN  M.  STANTON, 

Secretary  of  War: 

I  now  know  the  full  history  of  the  day  ...  I  feel  too 
earnestly  to-night.  I  have  seen  too  many  dead  and 
wounded  comrades  to  feel  otherwise  than  that  the  Govern 
ment  has  not  sustained  this  army.  If  you  do  not  do  so  now 
the  game  is  lost.  If  I  save  this  army  now,  I  tell  you 
plainly  that  I  owe  no  thanks  to  you  or  to  any  other  persons 
in  Washington.  You  have  done  your  best  to  sacrifice  this 
army.  G.  B.  MCCLELLAN. 

Such  language  was  insubordinate,  and  might 
fairly  be  held  to  be  treasonable.  When  it 
reached  the  War  Department,  Major  Johnson 
sent  for  Sanford,  who  at  once  said  that  the 
charge  made  by  McClellan  was  false,  and  that 
he,  as  military  supervisor  of  telegrams,  would  not 

7  109 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

allow  it  to  go  before  the  Secretary  of  War.  He 
therefore  directed  the  despatch  to  be  recopied, 
omitting  the  last  paragraph,  and  the  copy,  so  re 
vised,  was  delivered  to  Stanton. 

McClellan's  biographer,  William  C.  Prime, 
referring  to  this  incident,  charges  Stanton  with 
having  received'  McClellan's  scathing  con 
demnation  without  denial  or  comment;  but 
neither  Stanton  nor  Lincoln  ever  knew  that  San- 
ford  had  suppressed  an  important  part  of  an 
official  despatch,  or,  at  least,  not  until  after  the 
event. 

The  mutilated  copy,  so  delivered,  is  contained 
in  the  report  of  the  Committee  on  the  Conduct 
of  the  War,  Vol.  I,  p.  340.1  The  fact  of  the  omis 
sion,  so  far  as  it  •hieans  anything,  supports 
Major  Johnson's  statement  that  Sanford  took 
upon  himself  the  grave  responsibility  of  muti 
lating  an  official  communication  from  the  general 
commanding  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  addressed 
to  the  Secretary  of  War.  In  other  countries, 
under  strict  military  rules  (which  might  well 
have  applied  to  this  case  if  the  facts  had  been 
known  at  the  time),  officers  could  be  court-mar 
tialed  and  shot  for  a  lesser  offense. 

1  See  note  at  end  of  chapter. 

110 


McCLELLAN'S  DISAGREEMENTS 

In  McClellan's  official  report,  dated  August  4, 
1863,  of  his  military  service  between  July,  1861, 
and  November,  1862,  the  despatch  is  given  just 
as  it  was  written  by  him  and  telegraphed  to 
Washington,  including  the  paragraph  excised  by 
Sanford,  and  consequently  it  was  by  his  own  act 
that  the  expunged  lines  were  first  made  public. 

It  was  in  consequence  of  McClellan's  defeats, 
the  unsatisfactory  character  of  his  correspon 
dence  and  the  imminent  danger  of  the  capture 
of  Washington  by  the  enemy,  that  the  President 
decided  to  transfer  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  to 
Alexandria,  and  to  put  General  John  Pope  in 
immediate  command ;  and  to  Eckert  was  assigned 
the  delicate  task  of  carrying  to  McClellan  the 
order  for  his  release  from  the  supreme  command 
of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  and  for  its  transfer 
to  the  vicinity  of  Washington. 

So,  for  the  third  time,  Eckert  visited  McClellan 
as  the  confidential  medium  of  communication 
from  the  Administration;  but  naturally  he  was 
not  so  welcome  on  this  occasion  as  in  the  other 
cases,  for  McClellan  yielded  to  the  inevitable 
most  unwillingly  and  even  ungraciously,  using 
language  which  Eckert  deemed  it  wise  not  to  re 
port  at  Washington.  There  were  unexplained 

111 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

delays  in  the  transfer  of  the  army  to  Alexandria, 
and  after  McClellan  had  reached  that  place,  his 
troops  did  not  promptly  support  Pope.  How 
ever,  his  "Own  Story"  offers  some  facts  and  ar 
guments  in  his  favor  which  should  be  considered 
by  those  wishing  to  be  fair  and  just  to  him. 

NOTE.  Major  A.  E.  H.  Johnson,  Custodian  of  Military 
Telegrams  during  the  Civil  War,,  supplies  the  following 
authentic  information  in  regard  to  McClellan's  much  dis 
cussed  despatch  of  June  28,  1862. 

"McClellan's  historian — W.  C.  Prime — states  that  this 
despatch  in  its  mutilated  condition  was  laid  before  Congress 
by  Stanton,  who  thus  stood  accused,  not  only  of  having 
suppressed  the  two  paragraphs  with  which  it  closed,  but 
also  by  that  omission  of  admitting  the  truth  of  the  accusa 
tion.  I  declare  that  the  telegram  as  delivered  to  Stanton 
by  the  telegraph  staff  did  not  contain  the  words  which  Mc 
Clellan's  historian  says  were  suppressed  by  Stanton.  Gen 
eral  E.  A.  Hitchcock  testified,  in  the  McDowell  Court  of 
Inquiry,  in  1863,  that  he  had  access  to  all  the  records,  and 
that  the  despatch  in  question  (without  the  two  paragraphs 
at  the  end)  was  an  exact  transcript  of  the  official  copy  in 
the  War  Department  files." 


112 


VIII 

LINCOLN  IN  TOUCH  WITH  ARMY  MOVEMENTS 

FROM  the  time  that  Edwin  M.  Stanton  en 
tered  Lincoln's  cabinet,  January  15,  1862, 
the  President  visited  the  War  Department  tele 
graph  office  more  frequently  than  during  Secre 
tary  Cameron's  incumbency,  and  his  visits  grew 
more  and  more  prolonged. 

It  was  in  the  telegraph  office  that  I  recall  hav 
ing  first  heard  one  of  his  humorous  remarks. 
General  Robert  C.  Schenck,  who  after  the  war 
became  minister  to  England  (but  who  is  perhaps 
better  remembered  as  the  author  of  a  treatise  on 
the  gentle  art  of  playing  poker,  of  which  game 
the  English  public  became  greatly  enamoured 
about  that  time),  was  in  command  of  our  forces 
near  Alexandria.  One  evening  he  sent  a  tele 
gram  from  Drainsville,  Virginia,  announcing  a 
slight  skirmish  with  the  enemy,  resulting  in  the 
capture  of  thirty  or  forty  prisoners,  all  armed 
with  Colt's  revolvers.  As  Lincoln  read  the  mes 
sage,  he  turned  to  the  operator,  who  had  handed 

113 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

it  to  him,  and  said,  with  a  twinkle  in  his  eye,  that 
the  newspapers  were  given  to  such  exaggeration 
in  publishing  army  news  that  we  might  be  sure 
when  General  Schenck's  despatch  appeared  in 
print  the  next  day  all  the  little  Colt's  revolvers 
would  have  grown  into  horse-pistols. 

Many  years  afterward  an  Englishman  sup 
plied  me  with  a  sequel  to  this  story.  On  March 
17,  1905,  while  crossing  the  Atlantic  on  the 
Cunard  liner  Caronia,  I  addressed  to  the  cabin 
audience  some  "Recollections  of  Lincoln,"  which 
were  listened  to  by  passengers  of  many  nationali 
ties.  Reference  was  made  to  Lincoln's  typical 
English  patronymic,  and  also,  it  being  St.  Pat 
rick's  Day,  to  his  reputed  Irish  ancestry,  and  I  re 
peated  the  Lincoln  story  above  quoted.  On  the 
following  day  an  Englishman  accosted  me  on 
the  promenade  deck,  and  said,  "Oh,  I  was  very 
much  amused  last  evening  by  your  anecdotes  of 
President  Lincoln,  and  particularly  by  that  one 
about  the  Colt's  revolvers  growing  into  horse- 
pistols.  That  was  quite  funny,  don't  you  know 
— but  tell  me,  Mr.  Bates,  did  the  newspapers  ac 
tually  print  horse-pistols,  as  Mr.  Lincoln  said 
they  would?"  I  was  compelled  to  tell  my  ques 
tioner  that  so  long  a  time  had  elapsed  I  had  really 

114 


LINCOLN  IN  TOUCH  WITH  ARMY 

forgotten  how  the  despatch  read  when  pub 
lished. 

Another  incident  connected  with  the  appar 
ently  futile  operations  of  General  Schenck  led 
the  President  to  give  us  a  further  bit  of  humor. 
Upon  receiving  a  despatch  one  day  which,  like 
many  others  about  that  time,  told  of  petty  skir 
mishes,  with  no  definite  results,  Lincoln  remarked 
that  the  whole  business  of  backing  and  filling  on 
the  part  of  Schenck's  forces  and  those  of  the 
enemy  reminded  him  of  two  snappy  dogs,  sepa 
rated  by  a  rail  fence  and  barking  at  each  other 
like  fury,  until,  as  they  ran  along  the  fence,  they 
came  to  an  open  gate,  whereupon  they  suddenly 
stopped  barking,  and  after  looking  at  each  other 
for  a  moment,  turned  tail,  and  trotted  off  in  op 
posite  directions. 

On  March  9,  1862,  the  telegraph  office  was  the 
scene  of  great  excitement,  when  the  startling 
news  came  by  wire  from  Cherrystone  Point,  on 
the  Virginia  eastern  shore,  opposite  Fort  Mon 
roe,  that  the  Confederate  iron-clad  ram  Virginia 
(usually  called  by  her  former  name,  the  M  em- 
mac]  had  come  out  of  the  Elizabeth  River  from 
Portsmouth,  and  after  a  short  fight  had  sunk  the 
Cumberland,  burned  the  Congress,  and  run  the 

115 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

Minnesota  aground,  and  might  be  looked  for  up 
the  Potomac  within  forty-eight  hours.  In  Nico- 
lay  and  Hay's  "Lincoln"1  this  incident  is  re 
ferred  to  thus : 

Telegraphic  news  of  these  events  reached  Washington 
the  next  morning,  Sunday,  and  the  hasty  meeting  of  the 
Cabinet  .  .  .  was  perhaps  the  most  excited  and  impres 
sive  of  the  whole  war.  .  .  .  Lincoln  was,  as  usual  in  try 
ing  moments,  composed  but  eagerly  inquisitive,  critically 
scanning  the  despatches  .  .  .  joining  scrap  to  scrap  of 
information,  applying  his  searching  analysis  and  clear 
logic  to  read  the  danger  and  find  the  remedy. 

Lincoln  alone  seemed  hopeful  that  better  news 
would  soon  be  received,  and  his  hopes  were  ful 
filled.  While  the  Sunday  quiet  of  that  day  was 
being  disturbed  by  the  hurried  preparations  of 
the  army  and  navy  to  block  the  Potomac  channel 
by  obstructions  sunk  at  one  or  more  points  for 
the  purpose  of  preventing  the  ram  and  her  con 
sorts  from  reaching  Washington,  the  following 
telegram,  dated  the  day  before,  but  delayed  by  a 
break  in  the  cable,  was  received: 

Fort  Monroe,  March  8,  1862f 

SECRETARY  OF  WAR:  The  iron-clad  Ericsson  battery 
Monitor  has  arrived,  and  will  proceed  to  take  care  of  the 
Merrimac  in  the  morning. 

JOHN  E.  WOOL,  Major-Gen'l  Com'd'g. 
1  Vol.  V,  p.  226. 

116 


LINCOLN  IN  TOUCH  WITH  ARMY 

These  were  hopeful  words  from  the  brave  old 
Mexican  veteran,  and  when  Lincoln  and  his  cab 
inet  were  assembled  that  evening  in  the  telegraph 
office,  eager  and  anxious  for  news  of  the  prom 
ised  battle,  we  received  the  joyful  news  flashed 
over  a  new  cable,  laid  during  the  day  between 
Cherrystone  Point  and  Fort  Monroe,  that  Erics 
son's  little  cheese-box  Monitor.,  under  command 
of  Captain  John  L.  Worden,  had  tackled  the 
iron-clad  giant,  and  sent  her  back  to  shelter, 
which,  in  fact,  she  never  again  forsook  except  for 
an  occasional  reconnaissance.1  These  glorious 
tidings  brought  instant  relief  to  all,  and 
especially  to  the  President,  who  could  not  re 
frain  from  showing  his  joy  by  every  word 
and  look.  Two  months  later  (May  10),  when 
Norfolk  was  captured,  President  Lincoln,  Sec 
retary  Stanton,  and  another  member  of  the 
cabinet  being  at  Fort  Monroe,  and  directing 
the  movement,  the  enemy  blew  up  the  Merri 
mac.,  which  drew  too  much  water  to  permit 

1  In  Church's  "Life  of  John  Ericsson,"  Vol.  I,  p.  287,  appears  a 
letter  from  Assistant  Secretary  Fox  to  Ericsson  reading  as  follows : 
"I  wrote  the  order  forbidding  the  Monitor  going  into  the  Upper 
Roads  to  meet  the  Merrimac.  Why?  Because  I  had  pledged  Mc- 
Clellan  that  the  Merrimac  should  not  disturb  his  military  maneu- 
vres.  .  .  .  We  fulfilled  our  duty  and  kept  her  in  until  she  commit 
ted  hari-kari." 

117 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

her  to  retreat  up  the  James  River  to  Rich 
mond.1 

It  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  when  the  model 
of  the  Monitor  was  first  shown  to  Lincoln,  his 
early  experience  with  shallow  river  boats  (out 
of  which  grew  his  invention  of  an  "Improved 
Method  of  Lifting  Vessels  over  Shoals")  enabled 
him  to  perceive  the  inherent  advantages  pos 
sessed  by  Ericsson's  proposed  light-draft  vessel, 
in  its  facility  for  rapid  handling  in  shallow  water. 
It  was  largely  through  this  very  facility  that  the 
little  Monitor  was  enabled  to  vanquish  her  big 
opponent. 

There  were  many  times  when  Lincoln  re 
mained  in  the  telegraph  office  till  late  at  night, 
and  occasionally  all  night  long.  One  of  these 
occasions  was  during  Pope's  short  but  disastrous 
campaign,  ending  in  the  second  battle  of  Bull 
Run.  Lincoln  came  to  the  War  Department  of 
fice  several  times  on  August  26,  the  first  of  those 
strenuous,  anxious  days,  and  after  supper  he 
came  again,  prepared  to  stay  all  night,  if  neces- 


my  request  the  Navy  Department  has  supplied  the  follow 
ing  data: 

"The  Monitor's  lower  hull  was  122  feet;  her  upper  hull  172  feet 
long;  her  draft  10y2  feet.  The  Merrimac  was  280  feet  long,  her 
draft  231/3  feet." 

118 


LINCOLN  IN  TOUCH  WITH  ARMY 

sary,  in  order  to  receive  the  latest  news  from 
Pope,  who  was  at  the  front,  and  from  McClellan, 
who  was  at  Alexandria. 

Hour  after  hour  of  the  long  night  passed  with 
no  news  from  the  front  until  just  before  dawn, 
when  the  following  was  received:1 

August  27,  1862,  4:25  A.M. 

A.  LINCOLN,  President:  Intelligence  received  within 
twenty  minutes  informs  me  that  the  enemy  are  advancing 
and  have  crossed  Bull  Run  bridge;  if  it  is  not  destroyed,  it 
probably  will  be.  The  forces  sent  by  us  last  night  held 
it  until  that  time. 

H.  HAUPT. 

Lincoln,  who  was  still  keeping  vigil  with  the 
telegraph  operators,  at  once  penned  this  answer: 

August  27,  1862. 

COLONEL  HAUPT:  What  became  of  our  forces  which  held 
the  bridge  till  twenty  minutes  ago,  as  you  say? 

A.  LINCOLN. 

Receiving  no  reply  immediately,  Lincoln  tele 
graphed  again: 

War  Department,  August  27,  1862. 

COLONEL  HAUPT:  Is  the  railroad  bridge  over  Bull  Run 
destroyed  ? 

A.  LINCOLN. 

1  Haupt's  "  Reminiscences,"  p.  100. 

119 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

To  this  Colonel  Haupt  replied,  the  following 
day: 

August  28,  1862. 
PRESIDENT  LINCOLN: 

.  .  .  Colonel  Scammon  held  Bull  Run  Bridge  a  long  time 
against  a  very  superior  force,  retired  at  last  in  perfect 
order.  ...  H.  HAUPT. 

During  the  next  few  days,  Lincoln  sent  other 
brief  messages  of  inquiry  to  Colonel  Haupt,  upon 
whom  he,  as  well  as  Secretary  Stanton  and  Gen 
eral  Halleck,  seemed  to  depend  for  early  infor 
mation  far  more  than  upon  Pope  or  McClellan, 
as  shown  by  the  following  additional  telegrams 
(taken  from  Haupt's  "Reminiscences,"  p.  107 
etseq). 

War  Department,  Aug.  28,  1862,  2:40  P.M. 
COL.  HAUPT:  Yours  received.     How  do  you  learn  that  the 
rebel  forces  at  Manassas  are  large  and  commanded  by  sev 
eral  of  their  best  generals?  A.  LINCOLN. 

August  28,  1862. 

PRESIDENT  LINCOLN:  One  of  Colonel  Scammon's  sur 
geons  was  captured  and  released;  he  communicated  the  in 
formation.  One  of  our  firemen  was  captured  and  escaped; 
he  confirms  it  and  gives  important  Details.  General  McClel 
lan  has  just  seen  him.  ...  H.  HAUPT. 

August  29,  1862. 

COLONEL  HAUPT:  What  news  from  direction  of  Manas 
sas  Junction?  What  generally?  A.  LINCOLN. 

120 


LINCOLN  IN  TOUCH  WITH  ARMY 

August  29,  1862. 

PRESIDENT  LINCOLN  and  GENERAL  HALLECK:  General 
Pope  was  at  Centreville  this  morning  at  six  o'clock. 
Seemed  to  be  in  good  spirits.  ...  H.  HAUPT. 

August  30,  1862,  9:00  A.M. 
COLONEL  :  What  news  ?  A.  LINCOLN. 

August  30,  1862,  8:50  P.M. 

COLONEL  HAUPT:    Please  send  me  the  latest  news. 

A.  LINCOLN. 

August  30,  1862. 

A.  LINCOLN,  President:  Our  operator  has  reached  Manas- 
sas.  Hears  no  firing  of  importance.  .  .  .  We  have  reestab 
lished  telegraphic  communication  with  Manassas.  .  .  . 

.  .  .  Our  telegraph  operators  and  railway  employees 
are  entitled  to  great  credit.  They  have  been  advanced  pio 
neers,  occupying  the  posts  of  danger;  and  the  exploit  of 
penetrating  to  Fairfax  and  bringing  off  the  wounded  when 
they  supposed  that  20,000  rebels  were  on  their  front  and 
flanks,  was  one  of  the  boldest  performances  I  have  ever 
heard  of.  H.  HAUPT. 

August  31,  1862,  7:10  A.M. 

COLONEL  HAUPT:  What  news?  Did  you  hear  any  firing 
this  morning?  A.  LINCOLN. 

August  31,  1862. 

PRESIDENT  LINCOLN  :  No  news  received  as  yet  this  morn 
ing.  Firing  heard  distinctly  in  direction  of  Bristoe  at  six 
o'clock.  H.  HAUPT. 

121 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

And  so  the  anxious  hours  passed,  with  "Lincoln 
in  the  Telegraph  Office"  on  the  watch  until  it 
was  known  that  for  the  second  time  our  army 
had  met  defeat  on  the  fatal  field  of  Bull  Run. 

General  Haupt,  in  his  "Reminiscences,"  makes 
this  reference  to  Lincoln's  anxiety:  "Dur 
ing  this  protracted  engagement,  August  24  to 
September  2,  1862,  the  President  was  in  a  state 
of  extreme  anxiety  and  could  have  slept  but  lit 
tle.  Inquiries  came  from  him  at  all  hours  of  the 
night  asking  for  the  latest  news  from  the  front." 
The  cipher-operators  could  confirm  this  state 
ment  even  if  Lincoln's  messages  here  quoted  did 
not  establish  the  fact.  They  also  clearly  show 
that  for  a  man  who  never  had  a  day's  military 
experience  (if  strictly  speaking,  we  may  except 
the  farcical  episode  in  his  career  in  the  Black 
Hawk  Indian  Campaign  in  1832),  Lincoln,  who 
by  virtue  of  the  presidential  office,  was  Com- 
mander-in-Chief  of  the  Army  and  Navy  of  the 
United  States,  possessed  an  almost  intuitive  per 
ception  of  the  practical  requirements  of  that  re 
sponsible  office,  and  that  in  his  usual  common- 
sense  way  of  doing  things,  he  was  performing 
the  duties  of  that  position  in  the  most  intelligent 
and  effective  manner. 

122 


LINCOLN  IN  TOUCH  WITH  ARMY 

During  the  entire  war,  the  files  of  the  War 
Department  telegraph  office  were  punctuated 
with  short,  pithy  despatches  from  Lincoln. 
For  instance,  on  May  24,  1862,  he  sent  ten 
or  twelve  to  various  generals;  on  May  25,  as 
many  more;  and  from  one  to  a  dozen  on  nearly 
every  succeeding  day  for  months.  It  is  also 
worthy  of  remark  that  Lincoln's  numerous  tele 
grams,  even  those  sent  by  him  during  his  busy 
two  weeks'  visit  to  City  Point  in  March  and 
April,  1865,  and  the  less  than  half  a  dozen  after 
his  return  to  Washington,  were  almost  without 
exception  in  his  own  handwriting,  his  copy  being 
remarkably  neat  and  legible,  with  seldom  an 
erasure  or  correction. 

While  Lincoln  was  sometimes  critical  and  even 
sarcastic  when  events  moved  slowly,  or  when  sat 
isfactory  results  that  seemed  to  be  demanded  by 
the  .immediate  conditions  were  lacking,  yet  he 
never  failed  to  commend  when  good  news  came, 
as  in  the  following : 

August  17,  1864,  10:30  A.M. 

LIEUTENANT-GENERAL  GRANT,  City  Point,  Va.:  I  have 
seen  your  despatch  expressing  your  unwillingness  to  break 
your  hold  where  you  are.  Neither  am  I  willing.  Hold  on 
with  a  bull-dog  grip,  and  chew  and  choke  as  much  as  pos 
sible.  A.  LINCOLN. 

123 


IX 


ECKERT,  CHIEF  OF  THE  WAR  DEPARTMENT 
TELEGRAPH  STAFF 

THE  most  prominent  figure  in  the  War  De 
partment  telegraph  office,  was  Major 
Thomas  Thompson  Eckert,  our  chief.  Born  in 
Ohio  in  1821,  he  was  just  forty  years  old  at  the 
outbreak  of  the  Civil  War.  He  first  became 
interested  in  the  telegraph  through  reading  "The 
National  Intelligencer,"  for  which  his  father 
subscribed,  and  which  contained  the  proceedings 
of  Congress  relating  to  Professor  Morse's  inven 
tion,  and  the  various  steps  which  led  up  to  the 
appropriation  by  Congress  in  1843  of  $30,000 
for  the  construction  of  an  experimental  line. 
After  the  trial  had  proved  successful  and  lines 
had  been  built  from  Washington  to  New  York, 
young  Eckert  eagerly  followed  Morse's  doings, 
and  finally,  in  1847,  against  the  will  of  his  father 
and  the  appeal  of  his  mother,  he  started  from 
Wooster,  Ohio,  with  thirty  dollars  in  his  pocket, 

124 


ECKERT,  CHIEF  OF  TELEGRAPH  STAFF 

traveling  by  stage,  steamboat,  horseback,  and 
railroad,  working  his  way  nearly  the  entire  jour 
ney  to  New  York  City,  for  the  sole  purpose  of 
seeing  the  Morse  telegraph  in  operation,  which  he 
did  at  the  office  in  the  old  Astor  House,  then  said 
to  be  the  largest  hotel  under  one  roof  in  the  world. 
Returning  to  his  home  he  soon  learned  to  tele 
graph,  and  with  Jeptha  H.  Wade,  and  Isaac  R. 
Ellwood,  as  partners,  he  built  the  first  telegraph- 
line  on  the  Fort  Wayne  railroad  in  the  early  '50's. 

He  was  its  superintendent  until  a  few  years 
before  the  war,  when  he  went  to  North  Carolina 
to  take  charge  of  a  gold-mine,  controlled 
by  Baltimore  capitalists,  after  one  of  whom— 
Steele — the  mine  was  named.  In  June,  1861, 
Eckert  came  North,  ostensibly  to  procure  addi 
tional  machinery  for  his  mine,  but  really  for  the 
purpose  of  diagnosing  the  political  situation, 
which  he  found  to  be  so  alarming  that  he  deter 
mined  to  return  to  North  Carolina  and  bring  his 
family,  consisting  of  his  wife,  her  sister,  and  his 
three  young  children,  to  Ohio.  Reaching  At 
lanta  in  July,  the  day  after  news  had  been  re 
ceived  of  the  battle  of  Rich  Mountain,  in  West 
Virginia,  and  the  death  of  the  Confederate  gen 
eral  Garnett,  he  found  the  old  railway-station 

8  125 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

filled  with  an  excited  crowd  of  people.  Upon 
inquiring  the  cause  of  the  tumult,  he  was  told 
that  a  Northern  man  had  been  hanged  just  out 
side  the  depot  an  hour  before.  Pressing  his  in 
quiries,  he  learned  the  name  of  the  victim,  who 
had  been  employed  in  a  mine  not  far  from  the 
one  he  had  been  superintending.  Meantime, 
upon  looking  over  the  hotel  register,  he  had  ob 
served  the  name  of  Alexander  H.  Stephens,  Vice- 
President  of  the  Confederacy,  who,  when  a  mem 
ber  of  Congress  in  Washington  some  years  be 
fore,  had  been  a  room-mate  of  Eckert's  cousin, 
George  Eckert,  both  being  bachelors.  He  sent 
his  card  to  the  room  of  the  vice-president, 
who  told  the  colored  bell-boy  to  bring  Eckert  to 
him,  and  when  this  was  done,  a  cordial  greeting 
was  extended  to  the  cousin  of  Stephens's  old 
friend. 

While  they  were  talking  there  was  a  loud 
knocking  at  the  door.  When  it  was  opened  three 
men  entered,  one  of  whom,  pointing  to  Eckert, 
said  they  wanted  that  man  down-stairs.  Stephens 
interposed  his  slight  frame  between  Eckert  and 
the  delegation,  and  said:  "This  man  is  my  guest 
and  friend,  and  I  will  be  responsible  for  him. 
He  is  all  right."  The  men  thereupon  withdrew, 

126 


From  a  war-time  photograph 

Major  Thomas  T.  Eckert 


Of   THE 

(  UNIVERSITY  j 

' 


ECKERT,  CHIEF  OF  TELEGRAPH  STAFF 

and  Eckert,  having  the  patronage  of  so  influen 
tial  a  Southerner  got  safely  out  of  Atlanta,  tak 
ing  with  him  a  letter  from  Stephens  addressed  to 
Governor  Pickens  of  South  Carolina,  in  which 
the  suggestion  was  made  that  Eckert  with  his 
knowledge  of  mining  would  probably  be  useful 
to  the  Confederacy  in  supplying  saltpeter  for  the 
manufacture  of  gunpowder.1 

Eckert  went  to  Charleston  to  meet  Governor 
Pickens,  and,  after  discussing  the  saltpeter  ques 
tion,  proceeded  on  his  journey  to  the  Steele 
mine,  Montgomery  County,  North  Carolina, 
not  far  from  Salisbury.  At  B ranch ville,  he 
heard  the  news  of  Beauregard's  victory  over 
the  Union  forces  at  the  first  battle  of  Bull  Run, 
and  at  Columbia  he  witnessed  the  landing  of 
a  balloon  in  which  Professor  Lowe,  the  aero 
naut,  had  started  from  Cincinnati  intending  to 
land  at  Louisville,  but  which  had  been  carried  by 
high  winds  far  out  of  its  course. 

When  Eckert  arrived  at  the  mines  he  learned 
that,  owing  to  his  Northern  birth  and  sentiments, 
and  because  of  his  visit  to  Baltimore,  a  warrant 
for  his  arrest  as  a  spy  had  been  issued.  When 

irThe  next  time  Eckert  met  Stephens  was  in  February,  1865,  at 
City  Point.     See  chap.  XXIV. 

129 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

haled  before  the  judge,  however,  he  was  advised 
by  the  latter  not  to  employ  a  lawyer,  and  not  to 
answer  questions,  but  to  trust  him — the  judge. 
There  being  no  affirmative  proof  Eckert  was  re 
leased,  and  influential  friends,  including  his  fam 
ily  physician,  Dr.  Verdin,  assisted  in  arrange 
ments  for  his  escape  to  the  North.  His  party 
left  the  place  one  night  in  August,  1861,  in  an 
old  covered  wagon  driven  by  a  friendly  negro. 
Their  route  was  up  the  French  Broad  river  and 
over  the  mountains  into  Tennessee.  At  Greenville 
he  saw  the  sign  of  "Andrew  Johnson,  Tailor." 
From  Greenville  they  went  by  train  to  Louis 
ville.  The  entire  journey  was  an  anxious  one,  as 
they  were  held  up  and  closely  questioned  at  sev 
eral  points,  and  when  they  finally  reached  Louis 
ville,  they  were  penniless.  Eckert  was  forced 
to  ask  help  from  his  old  friends  in  the  railroad 
and  telegraph  service.  He  at  last  reached  his 
former  home  in  Cleveland,  and  Amasa  Stone 
(for  whom  Eckert  had  rendered  a  service  of 
some  importance  before  the  war)  telegraphed  to 
Colonel  Scott,  Assistant  Secretary  of  War, 
that  Eckert's  services  could  be  had.  Scott 
had  met  Eckert  previously,  and  he  was  or 
dered  to  Washington,  arriving  there  early  in 

130 


ECKERT,  CHIEF  OF  TELEGRAPH  STAFF 

September.  He  was  at  once  assigned  to  McClel- 
lan's  staff  as  captain  and  aide-de-camp  in  charge 
of  the  military  telegraph.  Eckert  was  then  a 
perfect  specimen  of  physical  manhood,  erect  and 
fine-looking,  as,  indeed,  he  still  is  at  the  age  of 
eighty-six. 

I  recall  an  incident  which  occurred  in  1862,  in 
the  room  of  John  Potts,  chief  clerk  of  the  War 
Department,  where  a  supply  of  soft-iron  pokers 
had  just  been  received  for  use  at  the  open  fires  by 
which  the  building  was  then  heated.  Eckert 
chaffed  the  chief  clerk  about  his  purchase,  and  to 
prove  his  statement  that  the  pokers  were  of  poor 
quality,  he  took  one  of  them  in  his  right  hand  and 
with  a  smart  blow  struck  it  across  the  tense  mus 
cles  of  his  left  forearm,  bending  the  poker  quite 
noticeably.  On  a  later  occasion  Potts  bought  a 
lot  of  pokers  which  turned  out  to  be  cast-iron  of 
poor  quality,  four  or  five  of  which  Eckert  actu 
ally  broke  over  his  arm  in  the  presence  of  Presi 
dent  Lincoln,  who  remarked  to  the  chief  clerk: 
"Mr.  Potts,  you  will  have  to  buy  a  better  quality 
of  iron  in  future  if  you  expect  your  pokers  to 
stand  the  test  of  this  young  man's  arm." 

The  story  of  how  Eckert  was  promoted  to  be 
major  and  became  chief  of  the  War  Department 

131 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

Telegraph  Staff,  touches  Lincoln  at  several 
points.  In  a  previous  chapter  reference  was 
made  to  the  peculiar  wording  of  Eckert's  ap 
pointment  as  manager  of  military  telegraphs  at 
army  headquarters  which  required  him  to  deliver 
all  despatches  to  the  commanding  general. 
These  instructions  also  caused  him  to  refrain 
from  sending  military  news  to  the  Secretary  of 
War  himself,  and  when  Stanton  entered  the 
cabinet  (January  15,  1862),  he  soon  found  that 
he  was  being  kept  in  ignorance  of  army  news, 
which,  however,  in  some  cases  was  printed  in  the 
newspapers  and  affected  the  financial  markets. 
It  seemed  evident  to  Stanton  that  there  was  a 
leak  somewhere,  and  naturally  the  telegraph  de 
partment  was  suspected.  Stanton  directed  As 
sistant  Secretary  Watson  to  investigate  the  mat 
ter,  and  the  latter  devoted  a  part  of  his  time  for  a 
week  or  so  to  this  inquiry.  His  report  to  Stanton, 
while  not  locating  the  leak  in  the  news,  was  to 
the  effect  that  Eckert  was  not  giving  close  atten 
tion  to  his  duties,  and  particularly  that  he  had 
withheld  important  military  despatches  from  the 
knowledge  of  the  President  and  the  Secretary  of 
War.  An  order  was  thereupon  made  out  for  his 
dismissal.  Stanton  telegraphed  for  Edwards  S. 

132 


ECKERT,  CHIEF  OF  TELEGRAPH  STAFF 

Sanford,  President  of  the  American  Telegraph 
Company,  to  come  from  New  York  and  take 
charge  of  the  telegraph.  This  was  early  in  Feb 
ruary,  1862.  Sanford  had  a  high  opinion  of 
Eckert's  abilities,  faithfulness,  and  honesty,  and 
so  reported  to  Stanton,  who,  however,  preferred 
to  trust  his  assistant's  report.  At  once,  upon 
learning  from  Sanford  that  there  was  dissatis 
faction  with  his  service,  Eckert  wrote  out  his 
resignation,  and  sent  it  by  messenger  to  the 
War  Department.  This  was  on  a  Saturday  af 
ternoon.  Stanton  was  surprised  and  indignant 
that  an  officer  under  charges,  and  whose  order  of 
dismissal  had  been  prepared,  should  have  re 
ceived  an  inkling  of  the  facts,  and  sent  in  his 
resignation  before  the  dismissal  could  be  served 
on  him.  This  placed  Sanford  in  an  unpleasant 
situation,  and  he  went  to  Stanton's  house  early 
Sunday  morning  to  intercede  for  Eckert,  and 
finally  obtained  Stanton's  consent  to  an  interview. 
Eckert,  accompanied  by  Sanford,  went  to 
the  War  Department  that  afternoon,  and  was 
ushered  into  the  Secretary's  presence,  and,  as 
he  has  recently  told  me,  he  and  Sanford  stood 
for  at  least  ten  minutes  while  Stanton  con 
tinued  to  write  at  his  desk,  without  looking  up  to 

133 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

see  who  his  callers  were.  Finally  Stanton  turned, 
and  asked  Eckert  what  he  wanted.  The  latter 
replied,  "Mr.  Sanford  tells  me  that  you  sent  for 
me,  and  I  am  here." 

Then  Stanton,  in  a  loud  voice,  said  he  under 
stood  that  Captain  Eckert  had  been  neglecting 
his  duties,  and  was  absent  from  his  office  much  of 
the  time,  and  allowed  newspaper  men  to  have 
access  to  the  telegraph  office ;  also  that  he  was  an 
unfit  person  for  the  important  position  he  occu 
pied.  Pointing  to  a  large  pile  of  telegrams,  all 
of  which  were  in  Eckert's  handwriting,  he  de 
manded  to  know  why  copies  had  not  been  regu 
larly  delivered  to  the  Secretary  of  War  at  the 
time  of  receipt. 

Eckert  replied  that  his  order  of  assignment 
from  Secretary  Cameron  expressly  required  all 
military  telegrams  to  be  delivered  to  the  com 
manding  general  and  to  no  one  else. 

"Well,"  Stanton  retorted,  "why  have  you  neg 
lected  your  duties  by  absenting  yourself  from 
your  office  so  frequently?" 

Eckert  replied  that  he  had  not  neglected  his 
duties ;  that  he  had  attended  to  them  strictly  and 
faithfully;  that  any  statements  to  the  contrary 
were  false;  that  for  over  three  months  he  had 

134 


ECKERT,  CHIEF  OF  TELEGRAPH  STAFF 

been  at  his  post  of  duty  almost  constantly,  and 
had  hardly  taken  off  his  clothes  during  that  time 
except  to  change  his  linen;  that  he  had  remained 
in  his  office  many  times  all  night  long,  and  that  he 
seldom  slept  in  his  bed  at  his  hotel;  and  finally, 
inasmuch  as  it  appeared  that  his  services  were  not 
acceptable,  he  insisted  upon  his  resignation  being 
accepted. 

Just  then  Eckert  felt  an  arm  placed  on  his 
shoulder,  and  supposing  it  to  be  that  of  Sanford, 
who  had  all  this  time  remained  standing  with  him, 
turned  round,  and  was  surprised  to  find  that,  in 
stead,  it  was  the  hand  of  the  President,  who  had 
entered  the  room  while  the  discussion  was  going  on. 

Lincoln,  still  with  his  hand  on  the  captain's 
shoulder,  said  to  Stanton:  "Mr.  Secretary,  I 
think  you  must  be  mistaken  about  this  young 
man  neglecting  his  duties,  for  I  have  been  a  daily 
caller  at  General  McClellan's  headquarters  for 
the  last  three  or  four  months,  and  I  have  always 
found  Eckert  at  his  post.  I  have  been  there 
often  before  breakfast,  and  in  the  evening  as  well, 
and  frequently  late  at  night,  and  several  times 
before  daylight,  to  get  the  latest  news  from  the 
army.  Eckert  was  always  there,  and  I  never  ob 
served  any  reporters  or  outsiders  in  the  office." 

135 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

Governor  Brough  of  Ohio,  who  had  known 
Eckert  before,  in  connection  with  a  telegraph- 
line  on  B  rough's  ( Belief ontaine)  railroad  in  Ohio, 
which  Eckert  had  inspected  and  rebuilt  about 
1857,  happened  to  be  in  the  Secretary's  room 
while  Eckert  was  uttering  his  denial  of  the 
charges  against  him,  and  after  Lincoln  had  fin 
ished  his  statement,  Brough  went  up  to  Eckert, 
took  his  hand,  and  addressed  him  in  a  most  cor 
dial  manner.  Then  turning  to  Stanton,  he  told 
him  that  he  would  vouch  for  anything  that  Eck 
ert  would  say  or  do;  that  he  believed  him  to  be 
the  ablest  and  most  loyal  man  who  could  be  se 
lected  for  the  place. 

Stanton  was  so  impressed  by  the  intercession 
of  Lincoln,  Sanford,  and  Brough  that  he  quietly 
took  from  his  desk  a  package  of  papers,  and 
opening  one  said,  "I  believe  this  is  your  resigna 
tion,  is  it  not,  sir?" 

Captain  Eckert  said  it  was;  whereupon  Stan- 
ton  tore  it  up  and  dropped  the  pieces  on  the  floor. 
He  then  opened  another  paper  and  said,  "This 
is  the  order  dismissing  you  from  the  army,  which 
I  had  already  signed,  but  it  will  not  be  executed." 
He  then  tore  up  the  order  of  dismissal,  and  said : 
"I  owe  you  an  apology,  Captain,  for  not  having 

136 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

gone  to  General  McClellan's  office  and  seen  for 
myself  the  situation  of  affairs.  You  are  no 
longer  Captain  Eckert;  I  shall  appoint  you 
major  as  soon  as  the  commission  can  be  made  out, 
and  I  shall  make  you  a  further  acknowledgment 
in  another  manner." 

So,  from  that  Sunday  afternoon,  in  February, 
1862,  until  just  before  the  close  of  the  war, 
Eckert's  military  title  and  the  one  by  which  he 
was  best  known  was  "Major."  The  additional 
acknowledgment  referred  to  by  Secretary  Stan- 
ton,  consisted  of  a  horse  and  carriage,  purchased 
for  Eckert's  use  in  the  performance  of  his  official 
duties. 

The  day  after  the  interview  described  above, 
Stanton  detached  Eckert  from  McClellan's  staff, 
and  ordered  him  to  make  his  office  in  the  War 
Department,  and  to  connect  all  wires  with  that 
building,  leaving  only  enough  instruments  at 
army  headquarters  to  handle  the  separate  busi 
ness  of  the  commanding  general.  This  order 
naturally  offended  McClellan,  and  it  was  doubt 
less  one  of  the  influences  which  operated  to  create 
or  increase  the  bad  feeling  between  him  and  Stan- 
ton,  which  was  never  allayed. 


137 


X 


THE  FIRST  DRAFT  OF  THE  EMANCIPATION  PROCLA 
MATION 

UNTIL  very  recently  it  has  not  been  known, 
except  by  a  few  persons,  that  Lincoln  wrote 
the  first  draft  of  the  Emancipation  Proclama 
tion  while  seated  at  Eckert's  desk  in  the  cipher- 
room  of  the  War  Department  telegraph  office. 
Some  of  the  incidents  connected  with  the  writing 
of  that  immortal  document  have  now  been  re 
corded  by  Eckert,  as  follows: 

"As  you  know,  the  President  came  to  the  office 
every  day  and  invariably  sat  at  my  desk  while 
there.  Upon  his  arrival  early  one  morning  in 
June,  1862,  shortly  after  McClellan's  'Seven 
Days'  Fight,'  he  asked  me  for  some  paper,  as 
he  wanted  to  write  something  special.  I  pro 
cured  some  foolscap  and  handed  it  to  him.  He 
then  sat  down  and  began  to  write.  I  do  not  recall 
whether  the  sheets  were  loose  or  had  been  made 
into  a  pad.  There  must  have  been  at  least  a 

138 


EMANCIPATION  PROCLAMATION 

quire.  He  would  look  out  of  the  window  a  while 
and  then  put  his  pen  to  paper,  but  he  did  not 
write  much  at  once.  He  would  study  between 
times  and  when  he  had  made  up  his  mind  he 
would  put  down  a  line  or  two,  and  then  sit  quiet 
for  a  few  minutes.  After  a  time  he  would  resume 
his  writing,  only  to  stop  again  at  intervals  to 
make  some  remark  to  me  or  to  one  of  the  cipher- 
operators  as  a  fresh  despatch  from  the  front  was 
handed  to  him. 

"Once  his  eye  was  arrested  by  the  sight  of  a 
large  spider-web  stretched  from  the  lintel  of  the 
portico  to  the  side  of  the  outer  window-sill.  This 
spider-web  was  an  institution  of  the  cipher-room 
and  harbored  a  large  colony  of  exceptionally  big 
ones.  We  frequently  watched  their  antics,  and 
Assistant  Secretary  Watson  dubbed  them  'Major 
Eckert's  lieutenants.'  Lincoln  commented  on 
the  web,  and  I  told  him  that  my  lieutenants  would 
soon  report  and  pay  their  respects  to  the  Presi 
dent.  Not  long  after  a  big  spider  appeared  at 
the  cross-roads  and  tapped  several  times  on  the 
strands,  whereupon  five  or  six  others  came  out 
from  different  directions.  Then  what  seemed  to 
be  a  great  confab  took  place,  after  which  they 
separated,  each  on  a  different  strand  of  the  web. 

139 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

Lincoln  was  much  interested  in  the  performance 
and  thereafter,  while  working  at  the  desk,  would 
often  watch  for  the  appearance  of  his  visitors. 

"On  the  first  day  Lincoln  did  not  cover  one 
sheet  of  his  special  writing  paper  (nor  indeed  on 
any  subsequent  day).  When  ready  to  leave,  he 
asked  me  to  take  charge  of  what  he  had  written 
and  not  allow  any  one  to  see  it.  I  told  him  I 
would  do  this  with  pleasure  and  would  not  read 
it  myself.  'Well,'  he  said,  'I  should  be  glad  to 
know  that  no  one  will  see  it,  although  there  is  no 
objection  to  your  looking  at  it;  but  please  keep 
it  locked  up  until  I  call  for  it  to-morrow.'  I  said 
his  wishes  would  be  strictly  complied  with. 

"When  he  came  to  the  office  on  the  following 
day  he  asked  for  the  papers,  and  I  unlocked  my 
desk  and  handed  them  to  him  and  he  again  sat 
down  to  write.  This  he  did  nearly  every  day  for 
several  weeks,  always  handing  me  .what  he  had 
written  when  ready  to  leave  the  office  each  day. 
Sometimes  he  would  not  write  more  than  a  line 
or  two,  and  once  I  observed  that  he  had  put  ques 
tion-marks  on  the  margin  of  what  he  had  written. 
He  Would  read  over  each  day  all  the  matter  he 
had  previously  written  and  revise  it,  studying 
carefully  each  sentence. 

140 


EMANCIPATION  PROCLAMATION 

"On  one  occasion  he  took  the  papers  away  with 
him,  but  he  brought  them  back  a  day  or  two  later. 
I  became  much  interested  in  the  matter  and  was 
impressed  with  the  idea  that  he  was  engaged 
upon  something  of  great  importance,  but  did  not 
know  what  it  was  until  he  had  finished  the  docu 
ment  and  then  for  the  first  time  he  told  me  that 
he  had  been  writing  an  order  giving  freedom  to 
the  slaves  in  the  South,  for  the  purpose  of  hasten 
ing  the  end  of  the  war.  He  said  he  had  been  able 
to  work  at  my  desk  more  quietly  and  command 
his  thoughts  better  than  at  the  White  House, 
where  he  was  frequently  interrupted.  I  still  have 
in  my  possession  the  ink-stand  which  he  used  at 
that  time  and  which,  as  you  know,  stood  on  my 
desk  until  after  Lee's  surrender.  The  pen  he 
used  was  a  small  barrel-pen  made  by  Gillott— 
such  as  were  supplied  to  the  cipher-operators." 

On  July  1,  1862,  a  call  for  three  hundred  thou- 

1  Frank  B.  Carpenter  in  his  "Six  Months  at  the  White  House," 
p.  20  et  seq.}  quotes  from  Lincoln's  own  account  thus:  "...  I  now 
determined  upon  the  adoption  of  the  emancipation  policy;  and, 
without  consultation  with,  or  the  knowledge  of,  the  cabinet,  I  pre 
pared  the  original  draft  of  the  proclamation,  and,  after  much 
anxious  thought,  called  a  cabinet  meeting  upon  the  subject,  .  .  . 
The  result  was  that  I  put  the  draft  of  the  proclamation  aside  as 
you  do  your  sketch  for  a  picture,  waiting  for  victory  .  .  .  From 
time  to  time  I  added  or  changed  a  line,  touching  it  up  here  and 
there  .  .  ." 

141 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

sand  additional  troops  had  been  issued,  but  there 
was  more  or  less  anxiety  as  to  the  result  of 
the  call.  On  July  12,  Lincoln  convened  the 
Representatives  from  the  border  states  and  dis 
cussed  with  them  his  second  "Appeal  to  favor 
compensated  emancipation."  On  July  14, 
twenty  of  the  delegation  signed  their  reply.  On 
July  22,  the  draft  of  the  proclamation  was  laid 
before  the  cabinet  for  the  first  time.  On  Septem 
ber  13,  Lincoln,  in  an  address  to  a  committee 
from  the  churches  of  Chicago,  who  urged  him  to 
issue  a  proclamation  of  emancipation,  said  "...  I 
can  assure  you  that  the  subject  is  on  my  mind  by 
day  and  night  more  than  any  other.  Whatever 
shall  appear  to  be  God's  will,  I  will  do  . . ." 

At  this  time  Antietam  had  just  been  fought 
and  won  and  Lee's  army  was  escaping  across  the 
Potomac,  much  to  the  disappointment  of  Lin 
coln,  who  telegraphed  McClellan,  on  September 
15,  to  "destroy  the  rebel  army  if  possible." 
The  failure  to  do  that  when  the  chances  seemed  so 
favorable  may,  therefore,  be  considered  as  the  im 
mediate  cause  of  Lincoln's  sudden  decision  to  lay 
the  Emancipation  Proclamation  before  his  cab 
inet,  for  the  second  time,  which  was  done  on 
September  22. 

142 


EMANCIPATION  PROCLAMATION 

Chase's  diary  of  that  date  says  that  Lincoln 
read  to  the  cabinet  from  Artemus  Ward's  humor 
ous  account  of  the  "High-handed  Outrage  at 
Utica,"  and  enjoyed  it  very  much  as  did  the 
others  "except  Stanton,  of  course." 

The  text  of  the  Proclamation  was  given  to  the 
press  that  night,  and  was  published  throughout 
the  country  the  following  day.  Of  course  there 
was  wide-spread  comment  and  criticism,  most  of 
it  favorable,  but  some  unfavorable;  and  the  sub 
ject  was  very  freely  discussed  between  that  time 
and  January  1,  1863,  when  the  Emancipation 
Proclamation  became  effective. 

Tinker  tells  of  an  occurrence  on  the  evening 
of  that  day  when,  after  a  long,  tiresome  public 
reception  at  the  White  House,  at  which  the 
President  was  obliged  to  stand  for  hours  shaking 
hands  with  all  sorts  of  people,  he  came  over 
to  the  telegraph  office,  settled  himself  in  his 
accustomed  place  at  Eckert's  desk,  and,, 
placing  his  feet  on  a  near-by  table,  relaxed 
from  the  strain  and  fatigue  of  the  day. 
General  Halleck  and  Assistant -Secretary  Fox 
of  the  navy  were  present,  with  a  number  of 
others  who  had  dropped  in  to  learn  if  there  was 
any  news  from  Rosecrans,  who  was  then  engaged 
9  143 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

in  what  at  that  time  seemed  almost  a  death  strug 
gle  with  Bragg.  Tinker  says  that  he  was  en 
gaged  in  translating  a  long  cipher-despatch  from 
General  Grant,  who  was  then  between  Memphis 
and  Milliken's  Bend,  and  also  one  from  Rose- 


Drawn  by  R.  G.  Page 

Plan  of  the  cipher-room  in  the  War  Department  telegraph  office 
Made  from  data  supplied  by  General  Thomas  T.  Eckert 

crans  in  Tennessee,  when  Lincoln  came  in, 
For  a  while  Tinker  paid  no  attention  to  the  con 
versation  in  the  room.  Presently,  however,  Lin 
coln  began  to  tell  of  an  occurrence  in  Pekin,  Illi- 

144 


EMANCIPATION  PROCLAMATION 

nois,  before  his  election ;  but  after  a  while  he  hesi 
tated  at  a  name  he  was  trying  to  recall,  but  could 
not,  which,  however,  Tinker  well  knew,  having 
been  employed  as  telegraph  operator  in  Pekin  at 
the  very  time  of  which  Lincoln  was  speaking. 
The  President  resumed  his  story,  but  again 
stopped,  remarking,  as  he  ran  his  long  fingers 
through  his  disheveled  hair  to  awaken  thought, 
"I  wish  I  could  remember  that  name."  Where 
upon  Tinker,  with  some  trepidation,  suggested, 
"Mr.  President,  permit  me  to  ask  if  it  is  not 
Judge  Puterbaugh?"  Tinker  then  adds,  in  his 
account  of  the  incident:  "Lincoln  turned  upon 
me  in  great  surprise  and  fairly  shouted,  'Why, 
yes,  that 's  the  name.  Did  you  know  him?'  Gain 
ing  confidence,  I  replied,  'Yes,  sir,  down  in  Pekin, 
where  I  once  had  the  honor  of  explaining  to  the 
future  President  of  the  United  States  the  work 
ing  of  the  Morse  telegraph,  in  the  telegraph  office 
in  the  Tazewell  House.'  Lincoln,  his  face  full  of 
pleased  surprise,  then  turned  to  his  audience,  and 
exclaimed,  'Well,  is  n't  it  funny  that  Mr.  Tinker 
and  I  should  have  met  'way  out  in  Illinois  before 
the  war,  and  now  again  here  in  the  War  Depart 
ment  telegraph  office?'  He  then  proceeded  to  tell 
how  and  when  we  had  first  met,  and  that,  being  at 

145 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

that  time  specially  interested  in  the  telegraph, 
which  was  comparatively  new  and  still  a  subject 
of  wonder  to  the  great  majority  of  people,  he  had 
asked  me  how  it  worked  and  that  I  had  given  him 
a  full  explanation  of  its  mysteries.  After  this 
interruption  Lincoln  resumed  his  story  and  I  re 
turned  to  my  translation  of  Grant's  and  Rose- 
crans's  cipher-messages.  As  this  was  the  day  on 
which  the  final  decree  of  the  Emancipation  Proc 
lamation  was  issued  I  recall  with  the  utmost 
pleasure  the  incident  above  referred  to." 

No  one  would  have  supposed  from  Lincoln's 
perfectly  composed  manner  at  the  time  that  he 
had  that  day  given  to  the  world  a  document  of 
imperishable  human  interest,  which  meant  so 

1  The  site  of  this  building  was  Pennsylvania  Avenue  at  the  corner 
of  17th  Street.  It  was  erected  about  1820  and  was  torn  down  in 
1879  to  make  way  for  the  new  State,  War,  and  Navy  Building.  The 
two  windows,  one  on  each  side  of  the  Maltese  cross,  afforded  an  out 
look  on  Pennsylvania  Avenue  from  the  room  occupied  by  the  cipher- 
operators  during  the  Civil  War.  Next  to  the  right-hand  window 
stood  Major  Eckert's  desk,  at  which  Mr.  Lincoln  almost  always 
sat  when  at  the  Telegraph  Office  and  on  which  he  wrote  the  first 
draft  of  the  Emancipation  Proclamation.  He  spent  more  time  in 
this  room  during  the  last  four  years  of  his  life  than  in  any  other 
place,  the  White  House  only  excepted.  The  room  to  the  left  of 
the  cipher-operators'  room  was  occupied  by  Major  Johnson,  custo 
dian  of  military  telegrams.  The  corner  room  was  Secretary  Stan- 
ton's  own  office.  The  five  windows  under  the  portico  to  the  right 
of  the  cipher-operators'  room  belonged  to  the  old  library  room  of 
the  War  Department,  in  which  was  the  Telegraph  Office  proper, 
where  all  Government  messages  were  sent  and  received. 

146 


Of    THE 

UNIVERSITY    1 

OF 
• 


EMANCIPATION  PROCLAMATION 

much  to  the  country,  and  especially  to  four  mil 
lions  of  slaves,  whose  shackles  were  forever 
loosed. 

The  effect  upon  the  public  mind  of  the  Emanci 
pation  Proclamation  was,  of  course,  not  the  same 
in  all  sections.  By  the  radicals  it  was  welcomed 
as  one  of  the  most  important  acts  of  the  Presi 
dent  since  the  war  began,  while  the  conservative 
element  feared  it  would  prove  ineffective  in  the 
North,  and  would  lead  to  reprisals  on  the  part  of 
the  enemy.  In  New  York  City  the  draft  riots, 
culminating  on  July  15,  1863,  had  a  curious  re 
lation  to  the  color  question,  the  wrath  of  the 
malcontents  being  to  a  large  extent  vented 
upon  the  negro  race,  whose  members  were  in  an 
unreasoning  way  apparently  held  responsible  in 
the  last  analysis  for  the  draft. 

In  the  border  states  the  lines  were  sharply 
drawn  between  the  military  and  the  loyalists  on 
the  one  hand,  and  Southern  sympathizers  and  for 
mer  slave  owners  on  the  other. 

In  the  summer  of  1863,  Mr.  Richard  O'Brien, 
one  of  the  three  operators  who  went  to  Washing 
ton  with  me  in  April,  1861,  was  stationed  at  Nor 
folk,  Virginia,  as  chief  operator.  There  still  re 
mained  in  that  city,  which  had  fallen  into  our 

149 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

hands  a  year  previously,  a  number  of  persons 
whose  sympathies  were  naturally  with  the  South, 
and  so,  on  July  11,  1863,  when  colored  troops 
first  arrived  in  the  city,  its  members  were  cheered 
by  no  outburst  of  welcome  but  were  met  by  the 
cold,  repellent  gaze  of  men,  women  and  children 
who  crowded  the  streets  to  witness  the  unwelcome 
sight.  Dr.  David  M.  Wright,  a  leading  and  repu 
table  citizen,  in  some  way  or  other  got  into  an 
altercation  with  one  of  the  white  officers,  Lieu 
tenant  Anson  L.  Sanborn,  from  New  England. 
Suddenly  the  sound  of  a  shot  broke  the  silence, 
and  Sanborn,  a  lad  in  years,  fell  to  the  ground, 
killed  by  a  shot  fired  by  Dr.  Wright,  who  was 
arrested  with  the  still  smoking  revolver  in  his 
hands.  The  following  telegram  gives  the  bare 
facts: 

Norfolk,  July  11,  1863. 

MAJOR-GENERAL  JOHN  A.  Dix:  Lieut.  Anson  L.  Sanborn 
of  the  1st  Colored  Regiment  was  shot  at  the  head  of  his 
Company  in  Main  Street  this  P.M.,  by  Dr.  Wright  and  died 
immediately.  Dr.  Wright  is  in  jail,  heavily  ironed. 

A.  E.  BOVAY, 
Major  and  Provost  Marshal. 

Dr.  Wright  was  promptly  tried  by  court-martial, 
convicted,  and  sentenced  to  be  hanged.  Rich 
ard  O'Brien's  younger  brother,  John  Emmet 

150 


EMANCIPATION  PROCLAMATION 

O'Brien,  was  also  employed  as  operator  at  Nor 
folk,  and  Dr.  Wright  had  once  attended  him  for 
a  slight  injury.  He  was  therefore  specially  in 
terested  in  the  case.  Dr.  O'Brien  (now  and  for 
many  years  a  prominent  physician  of  Scranton) 
says  that  Dr.  Wright's  brave  and  devoted  daugh 
ter  visited  her  father  one  evening  and  exchanged 
clothes  with  him,  so  that  he  walked  out  of  prison 
past  the  guards,  and  might  have  escaped,  had  not 
an  officer  in  the  street,  who  had  observed  the  mas 
culine  stride  of  the  supposed  woman,  stopped 
him  and  sent  him  back  to  his  cell. 

Knowing  Lincoln's  merciful  nature,  numerous 
petitions  were  soon  on  their  way  to  Washington, 
asking  for  the  pardon  or  reprieve  of  Dr.  Wright. 
One  was  signed  by  ninety-five  "Citizens  of  Nor 
folk,"  upon  the  receipt  of  which  Lincoln  sent  the 
following  telegram : 

Washington,  D.  C.,  Aug.  3,  1863. 

MAJOR  GENERAL  FOSTER,  Fort  Monroe:  If  Dr.  Wright,  on 
trial  at  Norfolk,  has  been  or  shall  be  convicted,  send  me  a 
transcript  of  his  trial  and  conviction,  and  do  not  let  execu 
tion  be  done  until  my  further  order.  A.  LINCOLN. 

General  Foster  answered,  stating  that  the  trial 
had  been  concluded  and  that  the  proceedings  had 
been  forwarded  to  the  President. 

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LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

Meantime  other  petitions  were  received  urging 
that  Dr.  Wright  be  "restored  to  his  home  and 
family,"  and  protesting  that  he  was  insane  when 
he  committed  the  deed.  Dr.  John  P.  Gray  of 
Utica,  a  celebrated  alienist,  was  selected  to  make 
an  examination  of  Dr.  Wright's  mental  condi 
tion,  and  on  September  10,  the  President  had  a 
long  interview  with  Dr.  Gray,  who  left  at  once 
for  Norfolk,  with  Lincoln's  autograph  letter  of 
instructions  in  his  pocket.  Upon  Dr.  Gray's  re 
turn  with  a  report  that  he  found  no  evidence  of 
insanity,  the  President,  having  considered  all  the 
testimony,  approved  the  sentence  of  the  court  and 
telegraphed  General  Foster  as  follows : 

October  15,  1863. 

Postpone  the  execution  of  Dr.  Wright  to  Friday  October 
23rd  inst.    This  is  intended  for  his  preparation  and  is  final. 

A.  LINCOLN. 

Still  the  friends  of  Dr.  Wright  did  not  give 
up  hope  of  executive  clemency,  but  bombarded 
the  President  with  telegrams  and  letters.  The 
Confederate  government  was  also  besieged  by 
some  of  the  doctor's  friends  in  the  South,  who 
presented  an  application  dated  Edenton,  N.  C., 
August  7,  1863,  addressed  to  President  Davis, 

152 


EMANCIPATION  PROCLAMATION 

signed  by  Mrs.  Starke  A.  Righton,  asking  that 
efforts  be  made  to  secure  clemency  for  Dr. 
Wright.  This  communication  was  indorsed  by 
Secretary  of  War  James  A.  Seddon,  expressing 
deep  sympathy  and  referring  to  the  "natural 
indignation  of  Dr.  Wright  at  the  shameful  spec 
tacle,  and  his  prompt  vindication  of  his  honor." 
On  September  1,  1863,  President  Davis  wrote 
the  Hon.  Thomas  Bragg,  at  Raleigh,  "I  would 
gladly  do  anything  in  my  power  to  rescue  him 
from  an  enemy  regardless  alike  of  the  laws  and 
customs  of  civilized  people." 

On  October  22,  the  day  before  the  time  fixed 
for  the  execution,  my  comrade,  Richard  O'Brien, 
was  approached  by  a  man  who  said  that  if  he 
would  anticipate  a  telegram  which  was  hourly 
expected  from  President  Lincoln  granting  a  re 
prieve,  he  would  be  paid  $20,000  in  gold,  and 
would  be  given  a  free  passage  to  England  on  a 
blockade  runner.  O'Brien  indignantly  refused 
the  bribe. 

October  23  dawned,  and  still  no  telegram  from 
the  President,  and  at  11 :  20  A.M.,  General  Foster 
telegraphed  to  General  Halleck,  "Dr.  Wright 
was  executed  this  morning." 


153 


XI 

THE  GETTYSBURG  AND  VICKSBURG  YEAR 

THE  year  1863,  which  began  with  the  issue 
of  the  final  draft  of  the  Proclamation  giv 
ing  freedom  to  four  million  slaves,  and  the  wel 
come  news  of  Rosecrans's  victory  over  Bragg 
at  Stone's  River,  did  not  long  continue  to  supply 
favorable  incidents,  for  Hooker's  defeat  at  Chan 
cellor  sville  at  the  beginning  of  May,  and  the 
raids  of  the  enemy  down  the  Shenandoah  Valley 
into  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania,  with  Grant 
still  held  at  bay  by  Pemberton  at  Vicks- 
burg,  led  to  a  loss  of  confidence.  In  some 
quarters  there  was  actual  discouragement. 
Louis  Napoleon  was  causing  anxiety  to  the 
administration  by  his  efforts  to  keep  the  Arch 
duke  Maximilian  on  his  newly  erected  Mexican 
throne. 

On  March  30,  Lincoln  for  the  second  time  ap 
pointed  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer  (for  April 
30). 1  On  June  15  he  found  it  necessary  to  call 
for  100,000  additional  troops,  the  drafting  of 

1  Lincoln's  first  proclamation  of  a  fast  day  was  dated  August  12, 
1861  (for  September  5). 

154 


THE  GETTYSBURG  AND  VICKSBURG  YEAR 

the  quota  from  New  York  City  causing  bloody 
riots. 

But  meantime,  a  glimmer  of  hope  had  been 
kindled  by  the  false  news  received  on  May  24,  of 
the  capture  of  Vicksburg.  Tinker's  diary  of  that 
date,  says : 

I  have  just  finished  copying,  and  have  delivered  to  the 
Secretary  of  War,  the  despatch  telling  us  of  the  capture  of 
Vicksburg.  The  President,  Secretary  Seward,  Senator 
Doolittle,  and  Judge  Whiting  have  just  come  in  and  are  all 
talking  so  loudly  I  can  hardly  write. 

Lee's  invasion  of  Maryland  in  June  had 
greatly  increased  the  anxiety  felt  by  the  Presi 
dent,  especially  as  communication  with  our  army 
was  frequently  interrupted.  All  the  news  we 
received  dribbled  over  a  single  line  of  wire  via 
Hagerstown;  and  when  Meade's  headquarters 
were  pushed  beyond  that  place  through  the  ne 
cessity  of  following  Lee's  advance,  we  lost  tele 
graphic  connection  altogether,  only  regaining  it 
by  the  Hanover  Junction  route,  a  day  or  two 
later.  From  that  point  to  Hanover  there  was  a 
railroad  wire.  Thence  to  Gettysburg  the  line 
was  on  the  turnpike,  and  the  service  was  poor  and 
desultory.  Lincoln  was  in  the  telegraph  office 
hour  after  hour  during  those  anxious  days  and 
nights,  until,  on  the  morning  of  July  4,  he 

155 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

penned  his  welcome  announcement  to  the  country 
that  Meade  had  won  a  notable  victory. 

However,  as  further  news  from  the  scene  of 
action  reached  him  Lincoln  began  to  realize  that 
Meade  was  likely  to  lose  much  of  the  fruit  of  his 
hard-earned  victory  by  allowing  Lee's  army  to 
escape  across  the  Potomac.  So  he  still  kept  close 
to  the  telegraph  instrument  during  the  succeed 
ing  days.  But  even  after  leaving  the  office  his 
thoughts  returned  to  it  lest  something  should  be 
left  undone  to  insure  decisive  success,  for  at  7 
P.M.  on  July  6  he  sent  a  telegram  from  the  Sol 
diers  Home  to  General  Halleck  saying: 

I  left  the  telegraph  office  a  good  deal  dissatisfied.  .  .  . 
These  things  all  appear  to  me  to  be  connected  with  a  pur 
pose  to  ...  get  the  enemy  across  the  river  again  without 
a  further  collision.  .  .  . 

When  Lincoln  came  to  the  office  the  next 
morning,  he  received  Grant's  despatch  announc 
ing  the  capture  of  Vicksburg  with  many  thou 
sand  prisoners,  and  this  welcome  news  coming  so 
soon  after  Meade's  victory  at  Gettysburg  revived 
his  spirits  and  led  him  eight  days  later  to  issue 
his  second  thanksgiving  proclamation,  naming 
August  6  as  a  "day  for  national  thanksgiving, 
praise  and  prayer." 

156 


THE  GETTYSBURG  AND  VICKSBURG  YEAR 

Nevertheless,  Lincoln's  thoughts  were  still 
with  Meade,  and  in  his  note  to  General  Halleck 
stating  that  Vicksburg  had  surrendered  he  said: 

.  .  .  Now,  if  General  Meade  can  complete  his  work  so 
gloriously  prosecuted  thus  far,  by  the  literal  or  substantial 
destruction  of  Lee's  army,  the  rebellion  will  be  over. 

Notwithstanding  the  urgency  of  the  telegrams 
from  Lincoln  and  Halleck,  Meade  did  not  seem 
disposed  to  hurry,  but,  finally,  on  July  12,  his 
despatch  reached  the  War  Department  stating 
his  "intention  to  attack  the  enemy  to-morrow,  un 
less  something  intervenes."  My  colleague, 
Chandler,  relates  that  when  this  message  was  re 
ceived  by  Lincoln,  he  paced  the  room  wringing 
his  hands  and  saying:  "They  will  be  ready  to 
fight  a  magnificent  battle  when  there  is  no  enemy 
there  to  fight."  Lee  recrossed  the  Potomac  that 
night,  and  Meade  did  not  attack  him,  and  on 
July  15,  the  very  day  on  which  the  thanksgiving 
proclamation  was  issued,  Lincoln  wrote  his  his 
toric  despatch  to  ex- Secretary  Cameron,  then 
at  Meade's  headquarters  (see  page  55),  say 
ing: 

.  .  .  Please  tell  me,  if  you  know,  who  was  the  one  Corps 
Commander  who  was  for  fighting,  in  the  council  of  war  on 
Sunday  night.1 

1  This  was  the  night  of  the  second  day's  fighting  at  Gettysburg. 

157 


XII 

LINCOLN'S  TENDER  TREATMENT  OF  ROSECRANS 

IN  August,  1863,  while  Rosecrans  was  engaged 
in  the  preliminary  movements  leading  up  to 
the  battle  of  Chickamauga,  and  after  the  fighting 
was  known  to  be  in  progress,  Lincoln,  as  at  other 
critical  periods,  remained  in  the  telegraph  office, 
sometimes  for  hours,  waiting  for  the  latest  news 
respecting  what  was  then  felt  to  be  x>ne  of  the 
most  serious  crises  of  the  war.  For  three  or  four 
days  the  tension  was  very  great,  the  President, 
Secretary  Stanton  and  General  Halleck  confer 
ring  together  almost  constantly.  Prior  to  this 
period,  Rosecrans  seems  to  have  reached  the  con 
clusion  that  he  did  not  possess  the  full  confidence 
of  the  Administration,  and  in  fact  he  did  not,  but 
he  fancied  the  situation  was  worse  than  it  really 
was,  this  impression  being  deepened  by  Halleck's 
censorious  letters.  In  reply  to  a  communication 
from  Rosecrans,  Lincoln  wrote  him  a  most  en- 

158 


LINCOLN'S  TREATMENT  OF  ROSECRANS 

couraging  letter  on  August  31,  1863,  in  which  he 
said: 

...  I  repeat  that  my  appreciation  of  you  has  not  abated. 
I  can  never  forget,  whilst  I  remember  anything,  that  about 
the  end  of  last  year  and  beginning  of  this,  you  gave  us  a 
hard  earned  victory,  which,  had  there  been  a  defeat  instead, 
the  nation  could  scarcely  have  lived  over.  Neither  can  I 
forget  the  check  you  so  opportunely  gave  to  a  dangerous 
sentiment  which  was  spreading  in  the  North. 

The  significance  of  this  reference  to  Rose- 
crans's  success  eight  months  before  at  Stone's 
River,  after  two  days  of  fierce  fighting,  with 
heavy  losses  on  both  sides,  lay  in  the  belief  on  the 
part  of  the  Administration,  that  certain  European 
governments,  notably  France  and  Great  Britain, 
had  virtually  promised  to  recognize  the  Con 
federacy,  if  it  should  win  one  more  substan 
tial  victory  before  the  end  of  1862.  The  result  of 
the  Stone's  River  battle  shattered  that  hope  and 
explains  Lincoln's  strong  words  to  Rosecrans. 

One  authority  for  the  above  statement  regard 
ing  European  recognition  of  the  Confederate 
States,  is  Lieut-Col.  Horace  1ST.  Fisher,  in  his  his 
torical  paper  printed  in  the  proceedings  of  the 
Society  of  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland,  held 
at  Indianapolis,  September  20,  1904.  Colonel 
Fisher  says,  "According  to  an  eminent  Confed- 

159 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

erate  general,1  who  was  promoted  to  a  confiden 
tial  position  at  Richmond  after  losing  a  leg  at 
Stone's  River,  that  battle  was  fatal  to  the  hope 
held  out  by  European  governments  of  the  recog 
nition  of  the  Confederate  independence,  if  they 
should  win  one  big  battle  before  the  end  of  1862." 
Lincoln's  closing  sentence  in  his  telegram  to 
Rosecrans,  about  "a  dangerous  sentiment  which 
was  spreading  in  the  North,"  also  needs  a  word 
of  explanation,  which  is  supplied  by  an  officer 
who  was  frequently  at  Rosecrans 's  headquarters 
during  the  period  referred  to. 

An  effort  was  being  made  by  the  Democrats  to  nominate 
prominent  military  men  for  office  throughout  the  country, 
so  as  to  take  them  from  the  field  and  tempt  them  to  forget 
their  loyalty  to  the  Government  and  thus  make  it  easier  to 
recognize  the  South  and  let  the  erring  brethren  go.  A  dele 
gation  of  prominent  Ohio  Democrats  called  on  General 
Rosecrans  at  Murfreesboro'  in  the  spring  of  1863  and  made 
a  tremendous  onslaught  on  him  to  secure  his  consent  to  be 
come  a  candidate  for  Governor  of  Ohio,  with  the  expectation 
that  if  successful  there  he  might  go  a  step  higher  later  on. 
The  delegation  was  very  secretive  at  first  with  Rosecrans, 
and  he  finally  broke  out  in  his  impulsive  way  and  demanded 
their  plans.  When  they  were  uncovered,  he  gave  them  a 
most  vigorous  tirade  and  in  language  stronger  than  polite, 
suggested  their  leaving  the  camp  and  returning  to  a  more 

JThe  Lieut. -Governor  of  Tenn. — A.  S.  Marks — so  stated  in  his 
speech  at  the  Reunion  of  the  Society  of  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland 
at  Chattanooga  in  1889.  He  was  the  officer  referred  to. 

160 


LINCOLN'S  TREATMENT  OF  ROSECRANS 

congenial  clime.  Garfield,  as  Rosecrans's  chief  of  staff,  was 
informed  of  the  whole  transaction,  although  the  delegation 
tried  to  pledge  Rosecrans  in  advance  against  communicating 
with  Garfield  or  any  others  of  his  staff. 

A  part  of  the  Democratic  plan  seemed  to  have  been  to 
run  General  McClellan  as  a  popular  military  man  for  the 
presidency  (which  was  in  fact  done  in  1864),  and  to  make 
as  many  as  possible  of  the  successful  general  officers  Demo 
cratic  candidates  for  governors  in  the  Northern  States,  such 
as  Indiana,  Ohio  and  New  York,  by  which  means  they  hoped 
it  would  be  possible  to  divide  and  weaken  the  patriotic  senti 
ment  then  existing. 

Three  weeks  after  the  President's  encouraging 
message  to  Rosecrans,  and  after  the  sanguinary 
battle  of  Chickamauga  (in  which  the  losses  were 
in  two  days  proportionately  larger  than  in  the 
three  days'  righting  at  Gettysburg),  when  Rose 
crans  left  the  field  for  Chattanooga  in  utter  de 
spondency,  supposing  the  day  to  be  lost,  Assis 
tant  Secretary  of  War  Dana,  to  whom  had  been 
assigned  the  task  of  keeping  the  Administration 
fully  posted  on  military  matters  in  the  West,  tele 
graphed  to  the  War  Department  ( September  20, 
1863)  doleful  accounts  of  the  situation  of  affairs. 
Rosecrans  later  on  the  same  day  telegraphed  the 
President,  "We  have  no  certainty  of  holding  our 
position."  Lincoln  thereupon  sent  these  further 
words  of  encouragement: 
10  161 


THF 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

September  21,  1863. 

Be  of  good  cheer,  we  have  unabated  confidence  in  you 
.  .  .  We  shall  do  our  utmost  to  assist  you.  .  .  . 

But  while  thus  trying  to  put  backbone  into 
Rosecrans,  the  President  himself  was  worried 
and  anxious.  He  had  been  sending  message 
after  message  to  Burnside  at  Knoxville,  urg 
ing  him  to  go  to  the  relief  of  Rosecrans.  Al 
though  Burnside  in  each  case  answered  that  he 
would  comply  with  the  order,  he  still  dallied,  and 
on  the  very  day  when  Rosecrans  sent  his  despair 
ing  message,  Burnside  telegraphed  the  President 
that  he  had  gone  to  Jonesboro  to  clear  out  a  force 
of  the  enemy  that  had  been  annoying  him  in  that 
direction. 

Meantime  the  distressing  reports  from  both 
Rosecrans  and  Dana  were  not  fully  confirmed, 
because  George  H.  Thomas,  upon  whom  the 
general  command  devolved  when  Rosecrans 
personally  retired  from  the  front  to  Chattanooga, 
had  rallied  his  troops,  reformed  his  broken  lines, 
and  after  six  or  seven  hours  of  desperate  fighting, 
had  compelled  Bragg  to  assume  the  defensive, 
thus  preventing  him  from  following  up  his  early 
advantages.  Thomas  withdrew  our  almost  de 
feated  army  in  good  order  to  Rossville  and  finally 

162 


LINCOLN'S  TREATMENT  OF  ROSECRANS 

reached  a  position  of  natural  safety  for  the  time 
being  at  Chattanooga.  The  President's  anxiety, 
however,  continued  to  be  very  great,  for  on 
September  22,  he  telegraphed  Rosecrans  that  no 
word  had  been  received  from  him  for  thirty-six 
hours,  adding:  "Please  relieve  my  anxiety  as  to 
position  and  condition  of  your  army  up  to  the 
latest  moment." 

On  the  following  day,  still  not  hearing  from 
Rosecrans,  and  wishing  to  encourage  him,  he  tele 
graphed  a  copy  of  Bragg's  despatch  to  the  Rich 
mond  authorities,  which  Grant  had  culled  from  a 
Richmond  newspaper,  the  President  adding: 
"You  see  he  (Bragg)  does  not  claim  as  many 
prisoners  or  captured  guns  as  you  were  in 
clined  to  concede.  He  also  confesses  to  heavy 
loss." 

Then,  on  September  24,  he  telegraphed  Mrs. 
Lincoln,  who  was  in  New  York  City  visiting 
friends,  a  pretty  full  summing-up  of  the  battle 
of  Chickamauga,  mentioning  that  among  six 
Confederate  generals  killed  was  her  brother-in- 
law,  Helms  of  Kentucky.  So  the  anxious  days 
passed,  rivaling  those  of  a  year  before,  when 
Pope's  Virginia  campaign  had  ended  so  disas 
trously,  for  while  Rosecrans's  army  was  safe,  it 

163 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

was  only  so  for  the  time  being.  Bragg  was  being 
rapidly  reinforced  from  Virginia  and  it  became 
evident  that  prompt  relief  must  be  given  to  our 
army  at  Chattanooga  or  it  would  be  cut  off  by  the 
enemy.  That  relief  was  given  in  the  remarkable 
manner  set  forth  in  chapter  XIII  by  the  trans 
fer  of  23,000  men.  under  Hooker,  from  Virginia 
to  Tennessee. 

The  heavy  reinforcement  rendered  our  position 
at  Chattanooga  entirely  secure.  In  fact  it  was 
soon  discovered  that  the  battle  of  Chickamauga 
in  its  final  results  was  more  of  a  victory  for  the 
Union  cause  than  a  defeat  as  first  supposed;  for 
the  enemy  suffered  greater  losses  than  we  did, 
and  reaped  no  ultimate  advantage ;  while  our  re 
inforced  army,  soon  to  be  placed  under  the  com 
mand  of  Grant  (who,  two  weeks  later,  was  ap 
pointed  to  succeed  Rosecrans ) ,  took  the  offensive, 
and  in  November  whipped  Bragg  almost  to  a 
finish. 

Meantime,  the  general  military  situation  being 
more  satisfactory,  the  President,  on  October  3, 
1863,  issued  his  proclamation  setting  apart  the 
last  Thursday  of  November  as  a  day  of  thanks 
giving  and  praise.  This  is  memorable,  because 
it  was  the  second  occasion  within  three  months 

164 


LINCOLN'S  TREATMENT  OF  ROSECRANS 

when  a  national  thanksgiving  was  appointed 
by  presidential  proclamation,  to  be  observed,  as 
the  historic  document  is  worded:  "by  my  fellow 
citizens  in  every  part  of  the  United  States  and 
also  those  who  are  at  sea  and  those  sojourning  in 
foreign  lands." 

This  proclamation  is  remarkable  not  only  as 
exhibiting  his  implicit  reliance  upon  an  "ever- 
watchful  God,"  but  for  beauty  of  phrase,  and  log 
ical  belief  in  an  overruling  Providence.  For  in 
stance,  after  reciting  the  blessings  of  fruitful 
fields,  healthful  skies,  bountiful  harvests,  untold 
wealth  in  our  mines  and  productive  industries, 
harmonious  foreign  relations,  and  the  success  at 
tending  our  armies  in  the  field,  he  says  in  the 
spirit  of  an  old  scriptural  herald  and  seer:  "No 
human  counsel  hath  devised,  nor  hath  any  mortal 
hand  worked  out  these  great  things.  They  are 
the  gracious  gifts  of  the  most  high  God,  who, 
while  dealing  with  us  in  anger  for  our  sins, 
hath  nevertheless  remembered  mercy."  He 
then  commends  to  the  tender  care  of  our  benefi 
cent  Father  who  dwelleth  in  the  heavens, 
"all  those  who  have  become  widows,  orphans, 
mourners,  or  sufferers  in  the  lamentable  civil 
strife." 

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LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

No  ruler  of  millions,  since  King  David  the 
Psalmist,  has  clothed  great  thoughts  in  sublimer 
language. 

The  great  victories  of  the  combined  armies  un 
der  Grant,  in  and  about  Chattanooga,  including 
the  capture  of  Orchard  Knob  by  the  Army  of  the 
Cumberland,  November  23,  1863;  the  capture  of 
Lookout  Mountain  by  troops  of  the  armies  of  the 
Potomac  and  Cumberland,  under  Hooker,  on  the 
24th,  and  the  wonderful  assault  and  capture  of 
Missionary  Ridge  by  the  Army  of  the  Cumber 
land  under  Thomas  on  the  25th,  came  in  time  to 
make  Lincoln's  third  national  thanksgiving  the 
greatest  day  of  rejoicing  the  people  had  expe 
rienced  since  the  war  began. 

The  first  national  thanksgiving  proclamation 
ever  issued  in  the  United  States  was  dated  April 
10,  1862.  The  second  was  dated  July  15,  1863, 
setting  apart  August  6,  as  a  day  of  thanksgiving 
for  recent  victories,  particularly  those  of  Vicks- 
burg  and  Gettysburg.  Thanksgiving  Day,  prior 
to  that  time,  had  been  generally  observed  in  the 
New  England  and  Middle  States  only,  but 'since 
1863  the  custom  inaugurated  by  President  Lin 
coln  has  been  followed,  of  having  the  last  Thurs 
day  in  November  of  each  year  set  apart  as  a  na- 

166 


LINCOLN^  TREATMENT  OF  ROSECRANS 

tional  day  of  thanksgiving  in  all  the  States  of  the 
Union. 

On  many  occasions,  telegrams  from  irrespon 
sible  persons  were  received  at  the  War  Depart 
ment,  generally  addressed  to  the  President,  criti 
cizing  the  Administration,  or  some  of  the  gener 
als  in  the  army,  and  volunteering  advice  concern 
ing  political  and  military  matters.  One  of  these 
free-lance  advisers,  named  Maxwell,  lived  in 
Philadelphia,  and  scarcely  a  month  passed  in 
which  he  did  not  telegraph  direct  to  the  Presi 
dent.  My  memory  recalls  several  of  these  tele 
grams.  I  will  quote  two  only  as  fair  samples  of 
many  others. 

During  Burnside's  unsuccessful  campaign  be 
fore  Fredericksburg  late  in  1862,  there  was  a  great 
deal  of  newspaper  talk  about  certain  of  his  gen 
erals,  formerly  under  McClellan,  being  out  of 
sympathy  with  and  jealous  of  Burnside;  and  the 
court-martial  of  Fitz-John  Porter  then  in  prog 
ress  had  as  a  basis  for  its  charges  the  contention 
that  Porter  failed  to  promptly  support  Pope  in 
August,  1862,  because  of  his  partizan  friendship 
for  McClellan.  The  President  showed  no  sur 
prise  when  he  received  the  following  telegram 
from  his  unknown  adviser : 

167 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

Philadelphia,  December  19,  1862. 
His  EXCELLENCY  A.  LINCOLN,  President. 

Richmond  campaign,  Franklin  remaining,  foregone  con 
clusion.  ROBERT  A.  MAXWELL. 

No  reply  was  made  to  this  foolish  despatch,  nor 
to  several  others  which  were  afterward  received 
from  Maxwell.  But  at  the  time  of  the  New 
York  draft  riots  these  despatches  were  ex 
changed: 

Philadelphia,  July  15,  1863. 
A.  LINCOLN,  President. 

Albert   Gallatin   Thorp,   informed   me  that   Seymour   is 
well  controlled  beyond  safe  limits.     Why  hesitate? 

ROBERT  A.  MAXWELL. 

Washington,  D.  C.,  July  15,  1863. 
ROBT.  A.  MAXWELL,  Philadelphia: 

Your  despatch  of  to-day  is  received,  but  I  do  not  under 
stand  it.  A.  LINCOLN. 

Maxwell's  despatch  no  doubt  had  reference  to 
Governor  Seymour  of  New  York,  who  at  that 
time — during  the  progress  of  the  draft  riots, 
which  culminated  on  that  day,  July  15,  1863,— 
was  supposed,  at  least  by  the  War  Department 
officials,  to  be  in  sympathy  with  the  Confederate 
government,  and  particularly  with  the  efforts  of 
their  Northern  agents,  Jacob  Thompson  and 

168 


LINCOLN'S   TREATMENT  OF  ROSECRANS 

others  in  Canada,  to  incite  opposition  in  the 
North  to  the  Administration,  and  to  hinder  the 
draft,  then  being  enforced  under  Lincoln's  proc 
lamation  of  June  15,  1863,  for  one  hundred 
thousand  men,  for  six  months'  service. 

The  next  Maxwell  telegram  of  record  was  as 
follows : 

New  York  City,  1 :30  P.M.,  September  23,  1863. 
His    EXCELLENCY    A.    LINCOLN,    President:    Will    Buell's 
testamentary  executor  George  Thomas  ever  let  Rosecrans 
succeed?      Is   Bragg  dumb  enough  to  punish  Thomas  se 
verely  and  disgracingly  ?  ROBERT  A.  MAXWELL. 

The  President  held  this  impertinent  telegram  un 
til  his  evening  visit  to  the  War  Department. 
Meantime,  no  doubt  thinking  that  some  defense 
of  General  Thomas  by  the  Administration  might 
serve  to  allay  the  already  evidently  wide-spread 
distrust  and  anxiety,  he  wrote  the  following  de 
spatch  at  the  White  House  and  brought  it  to  the 
telegraph  office  and  handed  it  to  Tinker  for 
transmission : 

"Cypher" 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  Sep.,  23,  1863. 
ROBERT  A.  MAXWELL,  New  York:  I  hasten  to  say  that  in 
the  state  of  information  we  have  here,  nothing  could  be 
more  ungracious  than  to  indulge  any  suspicion  towards  Gen. 

169 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

Thomas.  It  is  doubtful  whether  his  heroism  and  skill  ex 
hibited  last  Sunday  afternoon,  has  ever  been  surpassed  in 
the  world.  A.  LINCOLN. 

But  the  message  had  been  in  Tinker's  hands  only 
a  few  minutes,  when  Lincoln  came  over  to  the  ci- 


.... Jz.i-i... :. -. ..    „  ...  _  ..  ..  , . -..  ;'.  • ^ 

Facsimile  (reduced)  of  the  despatch  to  Robert  A.  Maxwell,  which 
Lincoln  wrote  for  transmission,  but  soon  after  countermanded 

The  original  is  in  the  possession  of  Mrs.  Frances  Breckenridge  Kellogg,  widow  of 

Colonel  Sanford  Cobb  Kellogg  (formerly  of  General  Thomas's  staff).   Mrs. 

Kellogg  has  kindly  consented  to  its  publication  in  this  history 

pher-desk  and  said,  "I  guess  I  will  not  send  this; 
I  can't  afford  to  answer  every  crazy  question 
asked  me." 

Thereafter,  adopting  Lincoln's  description,  we 
always  referred  to  these  officious  despatches  as 
"crazygrams."  Tinker,  of  course,  did  not  send 

170 


LINCOLN^  TREATMENT  OF  ROSECRANS 

the  message  which  Lincoln  had  written,  and 
deeming  it  of  curious  interest  as  a  memento,  pre 
served  it  carefully  with  a  copy  of  the  message 
from  Maxwell.  Several  years  afterward,  he  met 
General  Thomas  in  Washington,  and  thinking  he 
would  be  especially  gratified  to  see  and  possess 
the  documents,  he  had  the  pleasure  of  delivering 
them  into  Thomas's  hands  at  Willard's  Hotel, 
Washington,  with  a  letter,  of  which  the  following 

is  a  copy : 

May  27,  1867. 

Major-General  George  H.  Thomas, 

GENERAL  :  I  have  had  in  my  possession  since  the  day  it  was 
written,  a  telegram  penned  by  our  late  beloved  President. 
Its  history  is  this.  Robert  Maxwell,  a  quixotic  individual, 
residing  in  Philadelphia,  has  during  the  war,  and  since, 
humored  a  propensity  for  addressing  dictatorial  and  sensa 
tional  despatches  to  the  President,  his  cabinet  and  promi 
nent  officials  of  the  Government.  By  those  who  were  fa 
miliar  with  his  character,  no  consideration  was  accorded 
them.  On  receipt  of  one  of  these,  a  copy  of  which  I 
enclose,  the  President  wrote  a  reply,  which  he  handed  to  me 
for  transmission,  but  afterwards  concluded  not  to  send. 
I  have  preserved  this  precious  autographic  document,  hop 
ing  some  time  to  be  honored  with  an  opportunity  to  present 
it  to  you  in  person,  to  whom  it  justly  belongs — a  priceless 
tribute  to  a  noble  hero,  whose  dauntless  courage  on  that 
fateful  day  saved  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland. 
Very  Respectfully  Yours, 

CHARLES  A.  TINKER,  Cipher  Operator, 
War  Dept.  Telegraph  Office. 

171 


XIII 

A  EEM  ARK  ABLE  FEAT  IN  RAILROAD  TRANSPORTA 
TION 

AJ  stated  in  the  previous  chapter,  Rosecrans 's 
army  had  succeeded  in  reaching  Chatta 
nooga,  a  place  of  natural  safety,  but  with  deci 
mated  numbers  and  an  extended  line  of  com 
munication  with  its  base  of  supplies.  Bragg's 
army,  amply  reinforced,  resumed  the  offen 
sive,  and  Rosecrans  became  greatly  alarmed 
lest  he  should  be  besieged  by  Bragg  and  starved 
out.  Charles  A.  Dana,  who  was  with  Rosecrans, 
also  became  demoralized  and  his  letters  and  tele 
grams  to  Washington  were  gloomy  and  disheart 
ening.1  Lincoln  and  Stanton  were  both  greatly 

1  The  following  extract  is  from  an  article  by  Charles  A.  Dana  on 
Chickamauga,  which  appeared  in  "McClure's  Magazine"  for 
December,  189T,  p.  353. 

"I  had  not  sent  him  [Stanton]  any  telegrams  in  the  morning 
[Sept.  20,  1863],  for  I  had  been  on  the  field  at  Rossville  with  Rose 
crans  and  part  of  the  time  at  some  distance  from  the  Widow 
Glenn's  where  the  operators  were  at  work.  The  boys  kept  at  their 
post  there  until  the  Confederates  swept  them  out  of  the  house. 
When  they  had  to  run  they  went  instruments  and  tools  in  hand, 
and  as  soon  as  out  of  roach  of  the  enemy  set  up  shop  on  a  stump. 

172 


FEAT  IN  RAILROAD  TRANSPORTATION 

impressed  with  the  gravity  of  the  situation,  but 
hoped  that  things  were  not  so  bad  as  represented. 
Instead  they  grew  worse,  until,  on  September  23, 
after  Lincoln's  encouraging  message  to  Rose- 
crans,  several  particularly  pessimistic  cipher-de 
spatches  were  received  from  Rosecrans  and 
Dana,  which  led  Stanton  to  decide  that  heroic 
action  was  needed;  so  he  sent  a  messenger  to 
Lincoln,  at  the  Soldiers  Home,  with  copies  of 
the  alarming  despatches,  asking  that  a  cabinet 
meeting  be  called  immediately  to  consider  the 
steps  necessary  to  prevent  a  great  disaster  to  our 
army. 

Mr.  Carnegie,  in  his  Kenyon  College  address 
on  "Stanton,  the  Patriot,"  (April  26,  1906,)  re 
ferring  to  this  incident,  says  that,  "startled  by 
the  summons,  the  President  mounted  his  horse 
and  rode  to  Washington  in  the  moonlight  to  pre 
side  over  the  cabinet." 

It  was  not  long  before  they  were  driven  out  of  this.  They  next 
attempted  to  establish  an  office  on  the  Rossville  road,  but  before 
they  had  succeeded  in  making  connections  a  battle  was  raging 
around  them  and  they  had  to  retreat  to  Granger's  Headquarters 
at  Rossville.  .  .  . 

"Having  been  swept  bodily  off  the  battlefield  and  having  made 
my  way  into  Chattanooga  through  a  panic-stricken  rabble,  the 
first  telegram  I  sent  to  Mr.  Stanton  was  naturally  colored  by  what 
I  had  seen  and  experienced.  I  remember  that  I  began  the  des 
patch  by  saying,  'My  report  to-day  is  of  deplorable  importance. 
Chickamauga  is  as  fatal  a  name  in  our  history  as  Bull  Run.' " 

173 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

When  Lincoln  reached  the  War  Department,1 
Halleck,  who  had  been  called  in  conference,  was 
asked  how  long  it  would  take  to  move  two  army 
corps  from  Virginia  to  Tennessee.  Halleck  re 
plied  that,  in  his  opinion,  it  would  take  nearly 
three  months  to  complete  the  transfer.  This 
was  a  great  disappointment  to  Lincoln  and  Stan- 
ton,  especially  as  both  Rosecrans  and  Dana  had 
meantime  sent  further  appeals  for  help,  repeat 
ing  the  expression  of  their  fear  that  unless  relief 
came  quickly,  the  enemy  might  cut  off  our  com 
munications. 

When  Eckert  brought  in  the  later  despatches 
he  was  asked  by  Stanton  what  he  knew  of  rail 
road  routes  to  Chattanooga.  His  former  rail 
road  experience  enabled  him  to  supply  im 
portant  data,  and  when  told  of  Halleck's  three 
months'  estimate,  he  promptly  demurred  and  said 
it  was  much  too  long;  that  sixty  days  or  per 
haps  even  forty  would  be  sufficient.  Eckert 
was  thereupon  instructed  to  submit  a  written 
report  that  night.  Naturally  such  an  order 
placed  him  in  an  embarrassing  position  with  rela 
tion  to  Halleck,  but  he  was  on  his  mettle,  and 


1  John  C.  Hatter  the  messenger,  now  of  Brooklyn,  returned  with 
the  President. 

174 


FEAT  IN  RAILROAD  TRANSPORTATION 

while  the  cabinet  was  discussing  the  grave  con 
tingency,  the  cipher-operators  and  their  chief 
were  busy  examining  railroad  schedules  and 
maps. 

It  was  found  that  from  Washington  to  Nash 
ville,  seven  days  were  required  for  the  movement 
of  fast  freight  traffic,  passenger  trains,  of  course, 
taking  much  less  time. 

Tinker's  diary  says: 

September  23,  1863.  Long  despatches  from  Dana  and 
Rosecrans.  Reinforcements  to  be  sent  from  Army  of  Po 
tomac.  Left  Office  1 1 :30  P.M.,  Eckert  and  Bates  still  at 
work. 

Sept.  24.  Eckert  and  Bates  in  office  all  night.  Presi 
dent  and  cabinet  are  there  arranging  to  reinforce  Rose 
crans.  Hooker  going  with  19,000  men. 

Lincoln  and  Stanton  waited  in  the  building 
until  after  daybreak,  and  at  2 :30  A.M.,  Septem 
ber  24,  Meade  was  ordered  by  telegraph  to  pre 
pare  two  army  corps,  the  llth  and  12th,  under 
Hooker,  to  be  sent  to  Washington  immediately, 
with  five  days'  cooked  provisions;  their  baggage 
to  go  with  them;  artillery  ammunition,  horses, 
etc.,  to  follow  quickly.  At  10:45  A.M.  Meade  an 
swered  that  "every  effort  will  be  made  to  have 
the  troops  designated  ready  to  move."  By  8  A.M. 
Eckert  had  his  report  ready,  and,  after  discuss- 

175 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

ing  it  with  Assistant  Secretary  Watson,  took  it 
to  Stanton's  room.  When  the  latter  read  it  and 
learned  that  Eckert  allowed  only  fifteen  days, 
instead  of  his  previous  hastily  expressed  opinion 
of  "sixty  and  perhaps  forty,"  he  jumped  for  joy 
and  began  eagerly  to  ask  for  details.  His  first 
inquiry  was,  "How  do  you  propose  to  get  so 
large  a  number  of  men,  with  batteries  and  horses, 
across  the  river  at  Louisville  safely  and  quickly?" 
Eckert  replied  that  at  that  season  the  Ohio  River 
was  full  of  coal  barges,  loaded  and  empty,  and 
that  a  pontoon  bridge  could  be  got  ready  in 
twenty- four  hours.  The  next  question  was, 
"How  will  you  feed  the  hosts  without  losing 
time?"  Answer  was  made  that  the  Quartermas 
ter's  Department  could  establish  a  force  of  cooks 
and  waiters  every  fifty  miles  or  so  along  the  route 
and  at  each  eating  station  a  supply  of  hot  coffee, 
bread,  etc.,  with  waiters,  could  be  put  on  the  train 
and  be  carried  to  the  next  eating-place,  and  the 
waiters  could  then  come  back  to  their  starting- 
point  on  regular  trains.  The  plan  was  so  well 
laid  and  withal  so  sensible,  that  Lincoln  and 
Stanton  both  indorsed  it,  subject  to  the  approval 
of  the  railroad  authorities  and  military  officials. 
Meantime,  urgent  telegrams  had  been  sent  the 
176 


FEAT  IN  RAILROAD  TRANSPORTATION 

night  before  to  Garrett  and  Smith  of  the  Balti 
more  &  Ohio,  Felton  of  the  Philadelphia,  Wil 
mington  &  Baltimore,  and  Scott  of  the  Penn 
sylvania  railroads,  to  come  to  Washington  by 
first  train.  McCallum,  general  manager  of  mili 
tary  railroads,  and  Whiton,  his  assistant,  were 
brought  into  conference. 

McCallum,  while  approving  the  general  plan, 
would  not  bind  himself  to  the  low  estimate  of 
fifteen  days,  but  agreed  to  exert  every  effort  to 
approximate  that  limit,  and  thereupon  the  for 
mal  order  was  given  by  Stanton,  with  Lincoln's 
approval,  to  begin  the  movement  in  accordance 
with  the  telegram  to  Meade  a  few  hours  earlier. 

An  essential  part  of  the  plan  was  to  have  the 
Government  take  military  control  of  all  railroads 
on  the  route,  so  that  every  required  facility  would 
be  subject  to  the  orders  of  the  War  Department. 
This  was,  of  course,  accepted  by  the  railroad 
authorities,  and  from  the  moment  the  orders 
were  given  for  the  great  movement,  every  one 
involved  in  it  was  kept  busy  day  and  night. 

At  9  A.M.,  September  24,  General  Meigs, 
Quartermaster- General,  telegraphed  from  Nash 
ville  that  he  would  look  after  matters  from  that 
end  and  cooperate  with  the  railroad  people.  At 

177 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

10  A.M.,  Garrett  and  Smith  of  the  Baltimore 
&  Ohio  railroad,  reached  the  War  Depart 
ment.  McCallum  went  by  special  train  to 
Meade's  headquarters  and  telegraphed  the 
following:  "Will  commence  loading  17,000 
men  at  Bristow  (thirty-seven  miles  south  of 
Washington)  to-morrow  morning"  (Septem 
ber  25). 

Scott,  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  received 
Stanton's  telegram  at  night  somewhere  on  the 
road,  and  started  by  special  train  for  Washing 
ton,  where  he  arrived  about  1  P.M.,  September  24, 
with  Felton  of  the  Wilmington  road,  and  hur 
ried  to  the  War  Department.  After  reading 
Eckert's  report  and  learning  what  had  already 
been  done,  and  listening  to  Stanton's  impassioned 
appeals  for  haste,  Scott  quietly  remarked,  in  his 
quick  decisive  manner,  that  Eckert's  time  could 
be  met  and  the  transfer  effected — perhaps  sooner 
than  fifteen  days.  To  those  now  living  who 
knew  Thomas  A.  Scott  in  his  prime,  such  a  state 
ment  will  convey  a  world  of  meaning.  It  was 
most  welcome  to  the  President  and  Secretary  of 
War,  and  especially  gratifying  to  Eckert. 
Scott  remained  at  the  War  Department  not 
more  than  an  hour,  returning  to  his  special 

178 


FEAT  IN  RAILROAD  TRANSPORTATION 

train  which  had  been  kept  ready  at  the  sta 
tion  and  which  took  him  at  fast  speed  to 
Louisville.  While  en  route,  he  kept  the  wires  hot 
with  brief,  imperative  messages  to  his  subordi 
nates  and  officials  of  connecting  roads,  ordering 
cars  to  be  hurried  to  Washington  for  the  trans 
portation  of  men,  baggage,  ammunition,  cannon 
and  horses  to  Tennessee.  Reaching  Louisville, 
he  sent  this  message : 

Louisville,  September  26,  1863,  2:30  P.M. 
SECRETARY  OF  WAR, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Arrangements  for  ferriage  of  troops  across  Ohio  River 
completed.  THOS.  A.  SCOTT. 

To  make  a  long  story  short,  the  entire  move 
ment,  counting  from  the  hour  when  the  first 
train-load  left  Bristow  Station,  Thursday,  Sep 
tember  25,  until  the  last  train  arrived  at  Chatta 
nooga,  October  6,  was  completed  in  eleven  and  a 
half  days,  or  three  and  a  half  less  than  Eckert's 
low  estimate,  and  two  and  a  half  months  less 
than  Halleck's  figures.  The  distance  by  rail 
from  Bealeton,  Virginia — below  Bristow  Station 
—to  Chattanooga,  Tennessee,  is  1233  miles. 

In  Carnegie's  Kenyon  College  address  he  gives 
the  time  as  seven  days,  but  this  is  obviously  an 

179 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

error  if  we  consider  the  movement  from  start  to 
finish. 

On  October  1,  this  telegram  was  sent: 

COL.  THOMAS  A.  SCOTT, 

Louisville. 

Tell  me  how  things  have  advanced,  as  far  as  you  know. 

A.  LINCOLN. 

Scott's  reply  was  satisfactory,  and  while  the 
great  movement  was  in  progress,  and  when  it 
was  seen  that  it  would  be  a  success,  the  following 
despatch  was  sent : 

COLONEL  THOMAS  A.  SCOTT, 

Louisville. 

Your  work  is  most  brilliant.  A  thousand  thanks.  It  is 
a  great  achievement.  EDWIN  M.  STANTON. 

Similar  messages  of  congratulation  and  thanks 
were  sent  to  all  the  other  railroad  officials  con 
cerned.  The  records  show  that  the  total  number 
of  men  in  the  two  army  corps  was  23,000,  instead 
of  19,000,  as  at  first  estimated. 

The  reinforcements  thus  given  to  Rosecrans 
were  ample  and  timely,  and  served  to  place  his 
army  in  an  impregnable  position.  Such  a  feat 
was  unprecedented  and  will  long  be  referred  to 

180 


FEAT  IN  RAILROAD  TRANSPORTATION 

by  railroad  men  as  the  record  of  marvelous 
accomplishment  in  the  way  of  transportation  of 
large  bodies  over  single  track  railroads. 

Meantime,  the  Confederates  were  kept  in 
formed  of  the  proposed  movement  by  means  of 
secret  agents  in  Washington,  as  shown  by  the  fol 
lowing  despatches : 

.Signal  Office,  Richmond,  Va.,  Sept.  30,  1863. 
HON.  JAS.  A.  SEDDON,  Sec.  of  War,  Richmond,  Va. 
SIR:  — I  have  the  honor  to  inclose  copy  of  despatch  just 
received  at  this  office  from  Washington  from  a  source  which 
may  be  considered  reliable.    Very  respectfully, 

WM.  NORRIS, 
Maj.  &  Chf.  Sig.  Corps. 

Sept.  25,  1863.  The  llth  Army  Corps,  30,000  strong  is 
at  Alexandria;  is  to  be  forwarded  at  once  to  the  relief  of 
Rosecrans.  General  Meade,  if  circumstances  demand  it, 
will  fall  back  on  Washington.  The  President  has  tele 
graphed  Railroad  Presidents  to  meet  here  and  it  is  said  they 
are  already  here.  The  troops  are  to  be  hurried  through 
on  shortest  time.  There  is  immense  trepidation  here  with 
the  "powers  that  be"  in  regard  to  Rosecrans.  General 
Meade  is  already,  it  is  said,  at  Warrenton.  Recent  inform 
ation  shows  that  two  of  Meade's  Army  Corps  are  on  the 
move.  Large  numbers  of  troops  are  at  the  cars  now  loaded 
with  cannon.  There  is  no  doubt  as  to  the  destination  of 
these  troops,  part  for  Rosecrans  and  perhaps  for  Burnside. 
Eleventh  Army  Corps  commanded  by  General  Howard — the 
Dutch  Corps.  A.  HOWELL. 

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LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

Sept.  27)  1863.  It  is  reported  that  Joe  Hooker  is  in  com 
mand  of  these  troops  and  their  destination  is  the  White 
House. !  The  troops  are  at  the  Relay  House  this  evening. 

Orange  Court  House,  Fa.,  Sept.  28,  1863. 
HON.  JEFFERSON  DAVIS,  President,  Richmond,  Va. 

A  report  was  sent  to  me  yesterday  from  Shenandoah 
Valley,  which  if  true  furnishes  additional  reason  for  prompt 
action  on  the  part  of  General  Bragg.  It  is  stated  that 
General  Slocum's  and  Howard's  Corps,  under  General 
Hooker,  are  to  reinforce  General  Rosecrans.  They  were  to 
move  over  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railroad  and  to  commence 
on  the  night  of  the  25th.  ...  R.  E.  LEE,  General. 

Orange  Court  House,  Va.,  Oct.  3,  1863. 
HON.  JEFFERSON  DAVIS,  President,  Richmond,  Va. 

A  despatch  from  Major  Gilmor  last  night  states  that  re 
inforcements  for  Rosecrans  have  all  passed  over  the  Balti 
more  &  Ohio  Railroad.  The  force  composed  of  Slocum's 
and  Hooker's  Corps,  estimated  at  between  20  and  25,000 
men.  He  states  he  made  several  attempts  to  break  the 
railroad  but  could  accomplish  nothing.  .  .  . 

R.  E.  LEE,  General. 

1  NOTE.     This  is  evidently  an  error.     AUTHOR. 


182 


XIV 

LINCOLN  IN  EVERY-DAY  HUMOR 

THERE  were  many  angles  in  Lincoln's  char 
acter.  That  which  he  showed  in  the  tele 
graph  office  was  the  personal,  homely  side  as  dis 
tinguished  from  the  business,  political,  or  literary 
side.  The  cipher-operators  saw  him  at  close 
range,  and  in  his  most  anxious  hours,  amid  the 
excitement  of  great  military  movements,  with 
their  attendant  horrors:  the  clash  of  arms,  the 
carnage  of  the  battle-field,  the  groans  of  the  dy 
ing  and  the  tears  of  loved  ones.  We  also  met  him 
in  the  calmer  but  no  less  trying  hours  of  patient 
waiting  for  the  slow  development  of  wide-reach 
ing  plans  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union. 

I  do  not  presume  to  speak  of  Lincoln  as  a  poli 
tician,  as  a  statesman,  or  as  a  born  and  trained 
leader  of  men,  although  he  was  preeminent  in 
each  of  these  roles;  nor  as  a  story-teller,  with  all 
that  such  a  term  meant  in  his  day ;  but  I  do  wish 
to  emphasize  that  personal  trait  of  his  which  has 

183 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

impressed  itself  upon  me  more  forcibly  than 
any  other,  namely,  his  kindly,  charitable  dis 
position,  which  was  especially  shown  toward  his 
political  opponents  and  his  country's  enemies. 

In  his  second  inaugural,  March  4,  1865 — that 
remarkable  address,  which  Carl  Schurz  likens  to 
a  "sacred  poem" — he  made  use  of  words  which  in 
their  beautiful  setting  are  immortal:  "With 
malice  toward  none;  with  charity  for  all."  This 
simple  phrase  is  probably  quoted  more  frequently 
than  any  other  from  Lincoln's  writings,  just  as 
General  Grant  is  referred  to  so  often  in  his  sen 
tentious  remark,  "Let  us  have  peace,"  which  is 
graven  on  the  portal  of  his  tomb. 

Reference  being  made  by  some  one  in  the  tele 
graph  office  to  Lincoln's  inveterate  habit  of  story 
telling,  he  said  that  he  really  could  not  break 
himself  of  it;  that  it  had  been  formed  in  his 
younger  days,  and  later  he  found  it  difficult  to 
refrain  from  clinching  an  argument  or  emphasiz 
ing  a  good  point  by  means  of  a  story.  He  said 
his  case  was  like  that  of  the  old  colored  man  on 
the  plantation,  who  neglected  his  work  in  order 
to  preach  to  the  other  slaves,  who  often  idled  their 
time  away  listening  to  the  old  man's  discourses. 
His  master  admonished  him,  but  all  to  no  pur- 

184 


LINCOLN  IN  EVERY-DAY  HUMOR 

pose,  for  the  good  old  man  had  the  spirit  of  the 
gospel  in  him  and  kept  on  preaching,  even  when 
he  knew  the  lash  awaited  him ;  but  finally  he  was 
ordered  to  report  at  the  "big  house,"  and  was 
berated  soundly  by  his  master  and  told  that  he 
would  be  punished  severely  the  very  next  time 
he  was  caught  in  the  act  of  preaching.  The  old 
man,  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  spoke  up  and  said, 
"But,  marsa,  I  jest  cain't  help  it;  I  allus  has  to 
draw  infrunces  from  de  Bible  textes  when  dey 
comes  into  my  haid.  Does  n't  you,  marsa?" 
This  reply  interested  his  master,  who  was  a  re 
ligious  man,  and  who  said,  "Well,  uncle,  I 
suspect  I  do  something  of  that  kind  myself  at 
times,  but  there  is  one  text  I  never  could  under 
stand,  and  if  you  can  draw  the  right  inference 
from  it,  I  will  cancel  my  order  and  let  you  preach 
to  your  heart's  content."  "What  is  de  tex', 
marsa?"  'The  ass  snuff eth  up  the  east  wind.' 
Now,  uncle,  what  inference  do  you  draw  from 
such  a  text?"  "Well,  marsa,  I  's  neber  heered 
dat  tex'  befo',  but  I  'spect  de  infrunce  is  she 
gotter  snuff  a  long  time  befo'  she  git  fat." 

During  some  of  Lincoln's  daily  visits  to  the  War 
Department,  there  were  many  spare  moments 
while  he  waited  for  fresh  news  from  the  front  or 

185 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

for  the  translation  of  cipher-messages,  and  when 
he  did  not  fill  up  the  otherwise  idle  time  by  telling 
stories,  he  would  read  aloud  some  humorous  arti 
cle  from  a  newspaper,  as,  for  instance,  Orpheus 
C.  Kerr's  droll  reports  from  Mackerel ville,  or 
Petroleum  V.  Nasby's  letters  in  sarcastic  vein; 
at  other  times  Artemus  Ward's  inimitable  lec 
tures.  Some  of  Nasby's  letters  were  irresistibly 
funny,  especially  those  relating  to  the  continuous 
struggle  for  the  post-office  at  "Confedrit  Cross 
Roads,"  and  to  the  backwardness  of  some  of  our 
generals.  Others  referred  to  the  great  excite 
ment  caused  by  the  discovery  of  flowing  oil-wells 
in  Pennsylvania,  whereby  great  and  sudden 
wealth  had  come  to  many  formerly  poor  farmers 
and  others  in  that  region.  One  catch  phrase 
which  Lincoln  especially  enjoyed  repeating  was, 
"Oil 's  well  that  ends  well."  He  was  particularly 
fond  of  David  R.  Locke  (Nasby),  whom  he  first 
met  in  1858  in  Quincy,  Illinois.  In  1863  he 
wrote  a  letter  to  Locke  in  appreciation  of  one  of 
Nasby's  humorous  articles,  and  ended  the  letter 
with  this  inquiry:  "Why  don't  you  come  to  Wash 
ington  and  see  me?"  Locke  accepted  the  invita 
tion  and  spent  a  delightful  hour  with  the  Presi 
dent,  during  which  we  may  imagine  the  two 

186 


LINCOLN  IN  EVERY-DAY  HUMOR 

humorists  "swapped  stories"  to  their  hearts' 
content. 

Beck  with,  Grant's  cipher-operator,  says  that 
on  April  6,  1865,  the  day  after  Lincoln's  re 
turn  from  Richmond,  Lincoln  was  in  Colonel 
Bowers's  tent  at  City  Point  in  happy  humor 
over  Grant's  successes,  and  that  he  quoted 
from  memory  Artemus  Ward's  account  of 
the  escape  of  the  Polly  Ann  on  the  Erie 
Canal  when  being  chased  by  pirates.  The  part 
of  the  story  to  which  Lincoln  called  special  atten 
tion  was  where  one  of  the  crew  of  the  Polly  Ann, 
carrying  a  bag  of  oats,  ordered  the  pilot  to  "heave 
to"  and  when  the  vessel  "huv  to"  the  sailor  went 
ashore  and  scattered  the  oats  liberally  along  the 
tow-path.  After  this  was  done  the  vessel  went  on 
her  way  and  when  the  mules  of  the  pirates'  craft 
reached  the  oats,  no  amount  of  persuasion  could 
induce  them  to  proceed  until  the  oats  had  all  been 
consumed ;  and  so  the  Polly  Ann  escaped.  Lin 
coln  was  interrupted  at  this  point  of  the  recital  by 
the  entrance  of  Secretary  Harlan  but  immedi 
ately  resumed,  saying,  "Now,  gentlemen,  that 
was  true  strategy  because  the  enemy  was  diverted 
from  his  real  purpose." 

He  then,  without  waiting  for  comments,  began 
187 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

again  the  study  of  the  map  of  Virginia  in  con 
nection  with  several  despatches  that  Beckwith 
had  just  brought  in  from  Grant's  pursuing  col 
umns. 

Orpheus  C.  Kerr's  effusions  were  on  a  differ 
ent  line  from  either  Ward's  or  Nasby's,  but  were 
equally  laughable ;  for  instance,  when  at  the  close 
of  an  exciting  campaign  in  which  the  Mackerel- 
ville  army  had  bravely  marched  several  miles  one 
day  and  had  been  engaged  in  an  impossible  bat 
tle,  it  was  gravely  stated  that  "Victory  has  once 
again  perched  upon  the  banners  of  the  con 
queror."  Lincoln  would  stop  his  reading  to 
laugh  with  us  at  these  foolish  expressions.  He 
greatly  enjoyed  this  sort  of  humor,  especially 
when  it  was  directed  against  the  faults  of  our 
generals,  or  even  when  in  the  form  of  criticisms 
upon  his  own  public  acts  or  those  of  his  cabinet. 
In  fact,  he  dearly  loved  to  twit  some  of  his  official 
family  by  calling  attention  to  newspaper  refer 
ences  of  a  humorous  character  reflecting  upon 
their  administration  or  personal  peculiarities,  and 
to  those  of  us  who  watched  him  day  after  day  it 
was  clear  that  the  telling  of  stories  and  the  read 
ing  of  droll  articles  gave  him  needed  relaxation 
from  the  severe  strain  and  heavy  burden  resting 

188 


LINCOLN  IN  EVERY-DAY  HUMOR 

upon  him,  leading  his  mind  away  from  the  awful 
incidents  of  the  war  that  were  ever  present — the 
bloody  battles  and  loss  of  life,  the  execution  of 
deserters,  the  mistakes  and  jealousies  of  his  gen 
erals,  and  the  criticisms  of  the  daily  press,  often 
unjust  and  sometimes  disloyal. 

On  the  night  of  November  8,  1864,  while  Lin 
coln  with  a  number  of  his  cabinet-officers  and 
others  were  in  the  telegraph  office  awaiting  the 
presidential  election  returns,  he  took  from  his 
inside  pocket  a  small  pamphlet  containing  some 
of  Nasby's  effusions,  and  at  intervals  read  aloud 
to  the  company  various  extracts.  Charles  A. 
Dana,  in  his  "Reminiscences,"  says  that  Secre 
tary  Stanton  was  indignant  that  the  President 
should  give  attention  to  such  trifling  subjects  at 
important  moments  when,  as  it  appeared  to  him, 
the  destinies  of  the  country  hung  in  the  balance, 
but  Lincoln  had  a  method  in  this  apparent  fool 
ishness.  Frank  B.  Carpenter,  the  artist  who 
painted  the  Emancipation  Proclamation  group, 
says  that  Lincoln  remarked,  in  reply  to  a  criticism 
similar  to  Stanton's,  "that  if  it  were  not  for  this 
occasional  vent  I  should  die."  After  the  bloody 
battle  of  Fredericksburg,  where  11,000  of  our 
men  were  killed  and  wounded,  he  said,  "If  there 

189 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

is  a  man  out  of  perdition  who  suffers  more  than  I 
do,  I  pity  him."  1 

So  we  may  now  look  back  over  the  stretch  of 
years  and  better  realize  than  we  did  then  the  re 
lief  which  the  repetition  of  humorous  and  even 
frivolous  stories  brought  to  his  tired  body  and 
harassed  brain.  Oftentimes  indeed  in  those  days 
of  stress  he  would  lean  back  in  his  chair,  with  his 
feet  upon  a  near-by  table,  and  relapse  into  a  seri 
ous  mood,  idly  gazing  out  of  the  window  upon 
Pennsylvania  Avenue,  that  great  thoroughfare 
over  which  he  had  seen  so  many  brave  soldiers 
march  to  the  front  never  to  return.  In  these  in 
tervals  of  repose  Lincoln's  face  was  a  study;  the 
inherent  sadness  of  his  features  was  evident  even 
to  us  youngsters.  Indeed,  it  was  sometimes  pa 
thetic.  We  often  wondered  of  what  he  was  think 
ing;  but  he  would  not  long  remain  idly  pensive. 
Soon  he  would  come  out  of  the  clouds,  his  expres 
sive  face  would  light  up,  and  he  would  make 
some  humorous  remark  as  Stanton  entered 
the  room,  or  as  he  observed  one  of  the  cipher- 
operators  make  a  movement  toward  the  little 
drawer  in  which  the  incoming  despatches  were 
filed. 

1  See  also  "Lincoln  on  His  Own  Story-Telling,"  by  Silas  W.  Burt, 
in  "The  Century  Magazine"  for  February,  1907. 

190 


LINCOLN  IN  EVERY-DAY  HUMOR 

Lincoln's  stories  were  never  long,  but  they  were 
always  funny  and  laughter-provoking,  and  usu 
ally  effective  in  their  purpose  of  proving  a  point 
or  answering  an  objection.  They  were  homely 
and  old-fashioned,  which  terms  well  express  their 
general  character.  This  is  only  natural  and  to  be 
expected,  in  view  of  his  rude  surroundings  in  early 
life,  before  the  telegraph  had  done  more  than 
thread  its  slender  way  through  the  forests  and 
over  the  prairies  of  our  broad  land,  bringing  in  its 
later  development  the  current  news  of  the  world 
for  the  enlightenment  of  the  masses,  and  calling 
for  attention  with  each  successive  edition  of  the 
daily  press.  In  those  almost  primitive  days  of  our 
nation's  history,  the  post-office,  the  country  store, 
and  the  court-house,  were  the  rendezvous,  espe 
cially  of  the  young  men  who,  ten  or  twenty  years 
later,  would  be  the  leaders  of  public  opinion ;  and 
around  the  blazing  fire  in  these  places  of  resort 
during  the  winter  days  and  nights,  or  on  the 
street  or  sidewalk  close  by  in  the  summer-time, 
were  congregated  the  talkers  and  listeners  of  the 
town,  and  the  man  who  could  hold  his  own  in 
argument,  or  command  the  attention  of  the 
crowd,  whether  politics,  religion,  or  gossip  was 
the  topic  of  discussion,  was  the  one  most  ready 

191 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

with  a  story  to  illustrate  a  point  or  parallel  some 
other  story  that  had  just  commanded  a  general 
laugh.  In  these  trials  of  wit  and  humor,  Lin 
coln,  from  all  accounts,  must  have  been  easily 
first.  The  habits  thus  formed  held  their  grip 
upon  him  even  to  the  end;  for  in  his  last 
public  address,  on  the  evening  of  April  11, 
1865,  which  he  delivered  from  the  porch  of  the 
White  House,  and  which  I  had  the  pleasure  of 
listening  to  on  my  way  home  from  the  War  De 
partment,  he  made  this  remark  concerning  the 
progress  of  reconstruction  measures  in  Louisiana : 

Concede  that  the  new  government  of  Louisiana  is  only 
to  what  it  should  be  as  the  egg  is  to  the  fowl,  we  shall  sooner 
have  the  fowl  by  hatching  the  egg  than  by  smashing  it. 

This  form  of  argument  left  no  sting  behind  it ; 
and  the  opponents  of  his  Louisiana  reconstruc 
tion  plan,  at  least  those  of  his  own  political  party, 
must  have  admitted  later  that  his  policy  of  "mal 
ice  toward  none;  with  charity  for  all,"  was  supe 
rior  to  theirs. 

A  great  many  anecdotes  and  stories  have  been 
attributed  to  Lincoln.  It  is  certain  that  not  all 
so  called  were  his;  indeed,  it  is  probable  that  most 
of  them  were  not.  As  the  years  go  by,  it  is  be- 

192 


LINCOLN  IN  EVERY-DAY  HUMOR 

coming  more  and  more  difficult  to  decide  which 
are  genuine ;  that  is  to  say,  those  which  originated 
with  Lincoln  or  were  known  to  have  been  re 
peated  by  him.  Many  stories  said  to  be  Lincoln's 
were  no  doubt  his  own  by  right  of  first  telling, 
others  may  also  be  called  his  because  of  his  apt 
selection  and  manner  of  telling,  with  his  own 
unique  wording  and  application ;  but  it  is  proba 
ble  that  by  far  the  larger  number  of  such  stories 
now  current  are  associated  with  his  name  merely 
because  he  happened  to  be  present  when  they 
were  told  by  some  one  else. 

It  is  natural  also  that  in  the  re-telling  of  some 
really  genuine  stories,  even  by  those  who  heard 
them  from  his  own  lips,  there  will  be  numerous 
variations,  one  instance  being  the  Cave  of  Adul- 
lam  incident  told  by  Nicolay  and  Hay  (Vol.  IX. 
p.  40).  Their  version  is  not  the  same  as  mine, 
which  is  given  below. 

On  May  30,  1864,  the  Cleveland  Independent 
Convention  met,  and  on  the  following  day  nomi 
nated  Fremont  and  Cochrane  for  president  and 
vice-president  respectively.  This  was  an  uncon 
stitutional  selection,  because  both  candidates  were 
from  the  same  State— New  York.  The  conven 
tion  was  organized  and  controlled  by  a  lot  of 
12  193 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

ultra  patriots,  sore-heads  and  cranks,  who  held 
the  most  divergent  opinions  on  political  and  mili 
tary  affairs;  but  they  were  all  agreed  in  con 
demning  Lincoln's  conduct  of  the  war  and  his 
administration  generally,  and  they  all  professed 
to  believe  that  there  was  no  hope  for  the  country 
save  through  an  entire  change  of  policy.  Even 
"The  New  York  Herald,"  of  May  31,  the  morn 
ing  after  the  convention  assembled,  used  this 
language  in  an  editorial: 

As  for  Lincoln,  we  do  not  conceive  it  possible  that  he  can 
be  reflected  after  his  remarkable  blunders  of  the  past  three 
or  more  years. 

The  Northern  press  generally,  however,  was 
favorable  to  Lincoln,  and  a  great  deal  of  ridicule 
was  cast  upon  the  convention  and  its  heterogene 
ous  and  discordant  elements  by  the  newspapers 
and  the  public. 

On  June  1,  the  "Herald's"  report  of  the  pro 
ceedings  of  the  day  before  began  thus : 

The  Cleveland  Convention  opened  to-day  with  some  350 
to  400  delegates  in  attendance. 

My  record  shows  that  in  the  evening,  at  the 
War  Department,  the  "Herald's"  report  above 
referred  to,  just  received  from  New  York,  was 

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LINCOLN   IN  EVERY-DAY  HUMOR 

read  aloud,  and  Lincoln  at  once  asked  for  a  Bi 
ble.  Mr.  Stanton's  private  secretary,  Major 
Johnson,  went  to  get  a  copy,  and  not  finding  one 
immediately,  came  back  to  apologize  for  the  de 
lay,  and  then  went  out  again  in  further  search  of 
the  desired  volume.  Presently  he  returned  with 
an  open  Bible  in  his  hands,  and  presented  it  to 
the  President  in  his  most  polite  manner. 

Lincoln  then  opened  the  Bible  at  I  Samuel 
xxii,  2,  and,  referring  to  the  "Herald's"  report 
of  the  number  of  delegates  in  the  convention 
(350  to  400),  read  aloud  to  us  this  verse: 

And  every  one  that  was  in  distress,  and  every  one  that 
was  in  debt,  and  every  one  that  was  discontented,  gathered 
themselves  unto  him ;  and  he  became  a  captain  over  them : 
and  there  were  with  him  about  four  hundred  men. 

Nicolay  and  Hay  say  that  the  incident  oc 
curred  in  the  White  House  on  the  morning  after 
the  convention,  when  a  friend  who  called  on  the 
President  remarked  upon  the  fact  that  instead  of 
thousands,  who  had  been  expected,  there  were  in 
fact  at  no  time  more  than  400  present,  and  that 
Lincoln,  being  struck  by  the  number  mentioned, 
reached  for  the  Bible  that  usually  lay  on  his  desk, 
and  turned  to  the  verse  above  quoted  in  order  to 
verify  the  number  composing  King  David's  band, 

195 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

and  then  read  it  aloud.  Nicolay  and  Hay  make 
no  reference  to  the  "Herald"  report.  Which 
version  is  the  correct  one  may  never  be  certainly 
known.  Perhaps  both  may  be.  My  account 
makes  no  mention  of  Nicolay  or  Hay,  and,  in 
fact,  those  gentlemen  seldom  came  to  the  War 
Department  with  Lincoln.  It  may  well  be  that 
Lincoln  looked  up  the  verse  in  the  Bible  in 
the  White  House,  as  well  as  in  the  telegraph 
office. 

The  well  known  Cave  of  Adullam  reference 
by  John  Bright  in  the  British  Parliament  was  in 
1866  and  had  no  relation  to  Lincoln's  particular 
application  of  the  Scriptural  incident  i.e.,  to  the 
number  (400)  composing  the  band  of  discon 
tents. 

Some  of  Lincoln's  stories  here  recorded  were 
told  by  him  in  my  hearing,  others  were  repeated  to 
me  shortly  after  the  telling,  and  some  at  a  later  pe 
riod  by  my  comrades  in  the  telegraph  office,  who 
claimed  to  have  heard  them  from  Lincoln  him 
self,  and  I  believe  therefore  that,  subject  to 
these  qualifications,  they  are  all  genuine; 
although  I  have  heard  it  stated  that  all  cur 
rent  standard  jokes  can  be  traced  back  to  an 
tiquity,  one  leading  type  for  instance  furnish- 

196 


LINCOLN  IN  EVERY-DAY  HUMOR 

ing  the  basis  for  innumerable  variations  in  suc 
cessive  periods  of  time.  This  theory  was  pro 
pounded  by  Solomon  long  ago,  when  he  said, 
"There  is  no  new  thing  under  the  sun.  Is  there 
any  thing  whereof  it  may  be  said,  See,  this  is 
new?  it  hath  been  already  of  old  time,  which  was 
before  us."  So  it  seems  probable  that  some  of 
Lincoln's  stories,  genuine  though  we  may  be 
lieve  them  to  be,  were  current  before  his 
time;  for  instance,  the  one  with  the  Ken 
tucky  flavor  referring  to  the  brand  of  whisky 
which  General  Grant's  enemies  protested  he  used 
with  too  much  freedom.  Lincoln  disclaimed  this 
story  in  my  hearing,  stating  that  King  George 
III  of  England  was  said  to  have  remarked,  when 
he  was  told  that  General  Wolfe,  then  in  com 
mand  of  the  English  army  in  Canada,  was  mad, 
that  he  wished  Wolfe  would  bite  some  of  his 
other  generals. 

Many  of  Lincoln's  stories  were  in  couples,  like 
man  and  wife,  one  complementing  the  other;  for 
instance,  some  one  spoke  of  Tom  Hood's  spoiled 
child,  which,  as  I  recall,  was  represented  in  a 
series  of  pictures.  First,  the  nurse  places  baby 
in  an  arm-chair  before  the  fire  and  covers  it  with 
a  shawl  to  shield  it  from  the  heat;  next  the  fussy 

197 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

aunt  comes  into  the  room  and,  being  near-sighted, 
fails  to  observe  the  sleeping  baby  and  flops  into 
the  easy  chair  when,  of  course,  there  is  a  scream; 
then  the  nurse  enters  and  rescues  the  baby  from 
the  heavy  weight  of  the  aunt  and  holds  it  in  her 
arms  edgeways  so  that  when  the  father  of  the 
now  spoiled  child  comes  in  the  baby  is  mashed  so 
flat  that  he  does  not  perceive  it.  A  reference 
being  made  to  Hood's  story,  Lincoln  produced 
its  counterpart  as  follows: 

Scene,  a  theater;  curtain  just  lifted;  enter  a 
man  with  a  high  silk  hat  in  his  hand.  He  becomes 
so  interested  in  the  movements  on  the  stage  that 
involuntarily  he  places  his  hat,  open  side  up,  on 
the  adjoining  seat  without  seeing  the  approach 
of  a  fat  dowager  who,  near-sighted,  like  the  fat 
aunt  of  the  spoiled  child,  does  not  observe  the 
open  door  of  the  hat.  She  sits  down,  and  there  is 
a  crunching  noise,  and  the  owner  of  the  spoiled 
hat  reaches  out  to  rescue  his  property  as  the  fat 
woman  rises,  and  holding  the  hat  in  front  of  him 
says:  "Madam,  I  could  have  told  you  that  my  hat 
would  not  fit  before  you  tried  it  on." 

IN  connection  with  the  observance  of  the  first 
national  fast  day,  September  5,  1861,  Col.  Win. 

198 


LINCOLN   IN  EVERY-DAY  HUMOR 

Bender  Wilson,  in  his  "Acts  and  Actors  of  the 
Civil  War,"  page  111,  gives  an  account  of  the 
President's  visit  to  the  telegraph  office  that  morn 
ing.  As  he  entered  the  room  he  saw  George  Low, 
one  of  the  junior  operators,  at  work  cleaning  a 
blue  vitriol  battery.  "Well,  sonny,  mixing  the 
juices,  eh?"  the  President  inquired.  Then  sit 
ting  down  and  adjusting  his  spectacles,  which 
were  specially  made  with  short  spring  ends  to  clasp 
the  sides  of  his  head  just  back  of  his  eyes,  he  be 
came  aware  that  all  the  operators  were  busy,  and 
a  smile  broke  over  his  countenance  as  he  remarked : 
"Gentlemen,  this  is  fast  day,  and  I  am  pleased 
to  observe  that  you  are  working  as  fast  as  you 
can;  the  proclamation  was  mine,  and  that  is  my 
interpretation  of  its  bearing  upon  you.  Now,  we 
will  have  a  little  talk  with  Governor  Morton,  at 
Indianapolis.  I  want  to  give  him  a  lesson  in  ge 
ography.  Bowling  Green  affair  I  set  him  all 
right  upon;  now  I  will  tell  him  something  about 
Muldraugh  Hill.  Morton  is  a  good  fellow,  but 
at  times  he  is  the  skeeredest  man  I  know  of." 
This  talk  with  Governor  Morton  was  in  conse 
quence  of  the  latter's  telegram  expressing  great 
anxiety  concerning  the  Confederate  general,  Zol- 
licofTer's  reported  movement  toward  Louisville. 

199 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

Lincoln  told  Morton  over  the  wire  that  he  hoped 
the  report  was  true,  as  in  such  event  our  troops 
would  be  able  to  advance  and  occupy  Cumber 
land  Gap,  which  Lincoln  claimed  was  a  very  im 
portant  strategical  position. 

Earlier  in  the  same  month  Lincoln,  accompa 
nied  by  Mr.  Seward,  dropped  into  the  office  with 
a  pleasant  "Good  morning.  What  news?"  Wil 
son  replied,  "Good  news,  because  none."  Where 
upon  Lincoln  rejoined,  "Ah,  my  young  friend, 
that  rule  does  not  always  hold  good,  for  a  fisher 
man  does  not  consider  it  good  luck  when  he  can't 
get  a  bite." 

On  another  occasion  Lincoln  came  to  the  office 
after  dark  and  asked  for  the  latest  news.  He  was 
told  that  McClellan  was  on  his  way  from  Arling 
ton  to  Fort  Corcoran  and  that  our  pickets  still 
held  Ball's  Cross-roads  and  that  no  firing  had 
been  heard  since  sunset.  The  President  inquired 
if  any  firing  had  been  heard  before  sunset,  and 
upon  being  answered  in  the  negative,  laughingly 
replied:  "That  reminds  me  of  the  man  who, 
speaking  of  a  supposed  freak  of  nature,  said, 
'The  child  was  black  from  his  hips  down/  and 
upon  being  asked  the  color  from  the  hips  up,  re 
plied,  'Why,  black,  of  course.'  " 

200 


LINCOLN  IN  EVERY-DAY  HUMOR 

Another  humorous  remark  by  Lincoln  about 
this  period— late  in  1861 — was  recorded  by  my 
comrade  Wilson,  who  has  answered  my  inquiry 
as  follows : 

The  unvarnished  incident  was  simply  this.  You,  Flesher, 
and  I  were  the  three  operators  regularly  on  duty  at  "W  D" 
(the  office  call  at  that  time — a  few  months  later  when  we 
moved  up-stairs  into  the  large  "Library"  room  the  call  was 
changed  to  "D  I").  We  always  set  apart  a  large  chair  for 
the  President.  One  day  he  came  in  alone,  sat  down  in  his 
chair,  and  after  a  few  moments  arose  and  walked  over  to 
the  instrument  table,  and  took  possession  of  a  vacant  chair 
and  began  writing.  Almost  immediately  there  was  a  call  on 
the  instrument,  and  Flesher  hurried  to  answer  it  and  in 
doing  so  had  to  lean  over  Lincoln's  shoulder.  The  Presi 
dent  turned  and  said,"My  young  friend,  have  I  hunkered 
you  out  of  your  chair?"  Having  heard  the  word  "hun 
kered"  used  in  the  sense  of  elbowing  one  out  of  his  place, 
I  made  a  note  of  the  incident  as  I  had  previously  done  in 
the  case  of  his  frequent  use  of  the  phrase  "By  jings." 

On  one  occasion  Lincoln,  when  entering  the 
telegraph  office,  was  heard  to  remark  to  Secretary 
Seward,  "By  jings!  Governor,  we  are  here  at 
last."  Turning  to  him  in  a  reproving  manner, 
Mr.  Seward  said,  "Mr.  President,  where  did  you 
learn  that  inelegant  expression?"  Without  re 
plying  to  the  Secretary,  Lincoln  addressed  the 
operators,  saying:  "Young  gentlemen,  excuse  me 
for  swearing  before  you.  'By  jings'  is  swearing, 

201 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

for  my  good  old  mother  taught  me  that  anything 
that  had  a  'by5  before  it  was  swearing.'*  The  only 
time,  however,  that  Lincoln  was  ever  heard  really 
to  swear  in  the  telegraph  office  was  on  the 
occasion  of  his  receiving  a  telegram  from 
Burnside,  who  had  been  ordered  a  week 
before  to  go  to  the  relief  of  Rosecrans,  at 
Chattanooga,  then  in  great  danger  of  an  at 
tack  from  Bragg.  On  that  day  Burnside  tele 
graphed  from  Jonesboro,  farther  away  from 
Rosecrans  than  he  was  when  he  received  the  order 
to  hurry  toward  him.  When  Burnside's  tele 
gram  was  placed  in  Lincoln's  hands  he  said, 
"Damn  Jonesboro !"  He  then  telegraphed  Burn- 
side: 

September  21,  1863. 

If  you  are  to  do  any  good  to  Rosecrans  it  will  not  do  to 
waste  time  with  Jonesboro.  .  .  . 

There  was  popular,  many  years  ago,  a  pictorial 
book  of  nonsense  to  which  Lincoln  once  referred 
in  my  presence.  He  said  he  had  seen  such  a  book, 
and  recited  from  it  this  rime  as  illustrating  his 
idea  that  the  best  method  of  allaying  anger  was 
to  adopt  a  conciliatory  attitude.  The  picture 
shown,  he  said,  was  that  of  a  maiden  seated  on  a 

202 


LINCOLN   IN  EVERY-DAY  HUMOR 

stile  smiling  at  an  angry  cow  near-by  in  the  field, 
and  saying: 

I  will  sit  on  this  stile 
And  continue  to  smile, 
Which  may  soften  the  heart  of  that  cow. 

A  few  months  later,  after  Lincoln's  death  and 
the  capture  of  Jefferson  Davis,  the  latter  and 
some  of  his  party,  including  his  private  secretary, 
Col.  Burton  N.  Harrison,  were  brought  to  Fort 
Monroe,  their  baggage  and  official  papers  being 
forwarded  to  Washington.  Secretary  Stanton 
ordered  this  material  stored  in  one  of  the  library 
alcoves  in  the  telegraph  room,  and  the  cipher- 
operators  were  directed  to  make  an  inventory. 
My  father,  Francis  Bates,  a  townsman  of  Mr. 
Stanton  and  belonging  to  the  same  masonic  lodge, 
was  placed  in  charge  of  the  property,  which,  by 
the  way,  became  the  nucleus  of  the  Confederate 
Archives  Bureau,  first  presided  over  by  Francis 
Lieber,  the  historian.  In  examining  the  satchel 
of  ColoneL  Harrison,  I  came  across  a  copy  of  the 
old  book  of  nonsense  above  mentioned.  Years 
afterward,  having  business  relations  with  Harri 
son,  I  told  him  of  the  coincidence,  and  he  ex 
plained  that  the  volume  had  been  put  into  his 
satchel  by  the  captain  of  the  gunboat  on  which 

203 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

he  was  brought  to  Fort  Monroe,  and  that  it  had 
served  to  while  away  many  idle  hours. 

Tinker  records  that  one  day  Secretary  Sew- 
ard,  who  was  not  renowned  as  a  joker,  said 
he  had  been  told  that  a  short  time  before,  on  a 
street  crossing,  Lincoln  had  been  seen  to  turn  out 
in  the  mud  to  give  a  colored  woman  a  chance  to 
pass.  "Yes,"  said  Lincoln,  "it  has  been  a  rule  of 
my  life  that  if  people  would  not  turn  out  for  me, 
I  would  turn  out  for  them.  Then  you  avoid  colli 
sions." 

In  1863  Assistant  Secretary  of  War  Dana  was 
detailed  to  visit  Grant's  army  in  Mississippi,  and 
make  full  reports  to  the  War  Department  of 
military  conditions,  which  were  not  satisfactory 
to  the  Administration.  After  remaining  with 
Grant  for  a  while,  Dana  went  to  Tennessee  to 
make  similar  reports  regarding  affairs  in  Rose- 
crans's  army.  Dana's  reports  by  telegraph  were 
generally  full,  and  the  cipher-operators  during 
that  period  had  occasion  to  consult  the  dictionary 
many  times  for  the  meaning  of  words  new  and 
strange  to  our  ears. 

It  was  an  education  for  us,  particularly  when 
errors  occurred  in  transmission  and  words  like 
"truculent"  and  "hibernating"  had  to  be  dug  out 

204 


LINCOLN   IN  EVERY-DAY  HUMOR 

of  telegraphic  chaos.  Dana's  strong,  virile  man 
ner  of  expressing  himself  on  salient  questions  be 
came  better  known  to  the  reading  public  in  the 
last  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

While  Dana's  long  despatches,  ruthlessly  criti 
cizing  or  commending  our  generals,  were  being 
deciphered,  Lincoln  waited  eagerly  for  the  com 
pleted  translations  which  he  would  usually  read 
aloud  with  running  comments,  harsh  criticisms 
being  softened  in  the  reading.  In  this  way  he 
brought  his  hearers  into  the  current  of  his 
thoughts.  In  our  cipher-codes  there  were  arbi 
trary  words  representing  proper  names;  for  in 
stance,  for  Jefferson  Davis,  Hosanna  and  Hus 
band;  for  Robert  E.  Lee,  Hunter  and  Happy. 
Whenever  Lincoln  would  reach  these  names  in  a 
despatch  he  was  reading  he  would  invariably  say 
"Jeffy  D"  or  "Bobby  Lee,"  thus  indicating  at 
once  his  kindness  of  heart  and  love  of  humor.  He 
would  seldom  or  never  pronounce  their  full 
names.1 

*It  is  well  right  here  to  refer  to  Davis's  remark  in  1875  con 
cerning  Lincoln.  In  "Our  Presidents  and  How  We  Make  Them," 
Colonel  A.  K.  McClure  tells  of  his  visit  to  Davis  in  that  year. 
He  says  Davis  paid  a  beautiful  tribute  to  Lincoln.  After  listen 
ing  closely  to  what  McClure  said  of  Lincoln  and  his  character, 
Davis  remarked  with  earnestness  and  pathos:  "Next  to  the  de 
struction  of  the  Confederacy,  the  death  of  Abraham  Lincoln  was 
the  darkest  day  the  South  has  ever  known." 

205 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

At  the  annual  banquet  of  the  Military  Tele 
graph  Corps  at  the  Arlington  Hotel,  Washing 
ton,  on  the  evening  of  October  11,  1906,  Mr. 
Tinker  said : 

I  think  I  had  the  pleasure  of  hearing  what  in  all  proba 
bility  was  the  last  anecdote  ever  told  by  Mr.  Lincoln  in  the 
telegraph  office.  Early  on  the  morning  of  April  13,  1865, 
the  day  before  his  assassination,  he  came  into  the  telegraph 
office  while  I  was  copying  a  despatch  that  conveyed  impor 
tant  information  on  two  subjects  and  that  was  couched  in 
very  laconic  terms.  He  read  over  the  despatch,  and  after 
taking  in  the  meaning  of  the  terse  phrases,  turned  to  me 
and,  with  his  accustomed  smile,  said:  "Mr.  Tinker,  that 
reminds  me  of  the  old  story  of  the  Scotch  country  girl  on 
her  way  to  market  with  a  basket  of  eggs  for  sale.  She  was 
fording  a  small  stream  in  scant  costume,  when  a  wagoner 
approached  from  the  opposite  bank  and  called :  'Good  morn 
ing,  my  lassie;  how  deep  's  the  brook,  and  what  's  the  price 
of  eggs?'  '  'Knee  deep  and  a  sixpence,'  answered  the  little 
maid,  who  gave  no  further  attention  to  her  questioner." 

Mr.  Tinker,  continuing  his  recital,  said  that 
the  President,  with  a  smile  still  on  his  sunny  face, 
left  the  office  to  go  into  Secretary  Stanton's  room 
adjoining. 

On  one  occasion  an  official  letter  was  received 
from  John  Wintrup,  the  operator  at  Wilming 
ton,  Delaware,  on  the  route  of  the  military  line 
from  Washington  to  Fort  Monroe.  Wintrup 
is  still  living  in  Philadelphia.  His  signature  was 

206 


LINCOLN   IN  EVERY-DAY  HUMOR 

written  in  a  rather  bold  hand  with  the  final  letter 
quite  large,  almost  like  a  capital,  and  ending  in 
flourishes  which  partly  obscured  the  name  itself. 
Lincoln's  eye  dropped  on  this  letter  as  it  lay  on  the 


A  duplicate  of  Wintrup's  signature 

In  1907  the  writer  received  a  letter  from  his  friend  Wintrup  in  the 

ordinary  course  of  business,  from  which  the  facsimile 

signature  here  shown  was  taken 

cipher-desk,  and  after  satisfying  his  curiosity  as 
to  the  peculiar  signature  he  said:  "That  reminds 
me  of  a  short-legged  man  in  a  big  overcoat,  the 
tail  of  which  was  so  long  that  it  wiped  out  his 
footprints  in  the  snow." 


207 


XV 


LINCOLN'S  LOVE  FOR  HIS  CHILDREN 


ENCOLN  at  all  times  showed  a  most  tender 
regard  for  Mrs.  Lincoln  and  great  affec 
tion  for  his  sons  (of  whom  he  had  four), 
especially  for  the  youngest  (born  1853),  fa 
miliarly  called  "Tad,"  who  was  christened 
Thomas,  after  his  paternal  grandfather. 

One  son,  Edward  Baker  (born  1846) ,  died  be 
fore  the  war,  and  William  Wallace  (born  1850), 
died  in  1862. 

The  writer  recalls  many  telegrams  written  by 
Mr.  Lincoln  during  the  war,  some  signed  in  Mrs. 
Lincoln's  name,  others  addressed  to  her,  the  word 
ing  of  which  indicated  that  between  husband  and 
wife  there  was  deep  affection  and  close  confidence. 
One  of  many  cases  will  serve  to  illustrate  this  fact. 

As  recorded  elsewhere,  the  President's  family 
occupied  a  small  cottage  at  the  Soldiers  Home, 
on  the  outskirts  of  Washington  during  the  sum 
mer  and  autumn  months.  In  the  latter  part  of 

208 


LINCOLN'S  LOVE  FOR  HIS  CHILDREN 

1862,  Mrs.  Lincoln  went  to  Boston  to  visit  some 
friends,  and  while  there  Mr.  Lincoln  sent  this 
message : 

Washington,  November  9,  1862. 

MRS.  A.  LINCOLN,  Boston:  Mrs.  Cuthbert  and  Aunt  Mary 
want  to  move  to  the  White  House  because  it  has  grown  so 
cold  at  the  Soldiers'  Home.  Shall  they?  A.  LINCOLN. 

This  deference  to  Mrs.  Lincoln's  wishes  was 
habitual  with  him. 

William  Wallace  Lincoln,  always  called  "Wil 
lie,"  was  next  older  than  Tad,  and  I  well  remem 
ber  his  quiet  manner  and  interesting  personality 
from  having  seen  him  frequently  during  the  sum 
mer  and  autumn  of  1861,  when  he  was  about 
eleven.  He  died  of  typhoid  fever,  February  20, 
1862;  and  Lincoln's  deep  sorrow  over  the  loss  of 
a  second  son  was  evident  for  months  afterward. 
In  my  war  diary,  under  date  of  February  11, 
1864,  is  this  entry: 

Last  night,  when  leaving  the  telegraph  office  I  discovered 
that  the  White  House  stables  were  on  fire,  and  running  back 
to  the  War  Department,  where  there  was  a  call  wire,  I  sent 
an  alarm  to  the  fire-engine  house  above  17th  Street.  The 
engine  responded  quickly,  but  the  fire  had  gained  too  much 
headway,  and  the  stable  and  contents  were  destroyed,  in 
cluding  the  President's  three  spans  of  carriage  horses  and 
Willie's  little  pony. 

13  209 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

This  was  two  years  after  the  boy's  death,  but 
his  winning  ways  had  made  him  such  a  great 
favorite  that  his  pony  was  still  identified  with  his 
name.  In  Bishop  Simpson's  funeral  oration, 
when  Lincoln's  body  was  brought  to  Springfield 
in  1865,  he  made  this  reference: 

"In  his  domestic  life  Lincoln  was  exceedingly 
kind  and  affectionate.  .  .  .  To  an  officer  of  the 
army  he  said  not  long  since,  'Do  you  ever  find 
yourself  talking  with  the  dead?'  and  then  added, 
'Since  Willie's  death,  I  catch  myself  every  day 
involuntarily  talking  with  him  as  if  he  were  with 


me.' 


No  other  record  of  this  incident  has  been  dis 
covered  by  me,  but  Frank  B.  Carpenter,  the 
artist,  in  his  "Six  Months  at  the  White  House," 
p.  293,  says  that  on  April  14,  1865,  the  day  of 
the  assassination,  and  more  than  three  years  sub 
sequent  to  Willie's  death,  Lincoln  said  to  Mrs. 
Lincoln:  "We  must  both  be  more  cheerful  in 
the  future.  Between  the  war  and  the  loss 
of  our  darling  Willie  we  have  been  very  miser 
able." 

Here  are  two  telegrams  out  of  a  large  num 
ber  in  which  Lincoln  referred  to  his  children  in 
an  affectionate  manner. 

210 


LINCOLN'S  LOVE  FOR  HIS  CHILDREN 

August  31,  1864.. 
MRS.  A.  LINCOLN,  Manchester,  Vermont: 

All  reasonably  well.  Bob  not  here  yet.  How  is  dear 
Tad?  A.  LINCOLN. 

September  8,  1864. 
MRS.  A.  LINCOLN,  Manchester,  Vermont: 

All  well,  including  Tad's  pony  and  the  goats. 

A.  LINCOLN. 

On  another  occasion  Lincoln  wrote  to  Mrs. 
Lincoln  as  follows: 

.  .  .  Tell  dear  Tad  poor  Nanny  goat  is  lost.  .  .  .  The 
day  you  left,  Nanny  was  found  resting  herself  and  chewing 
her  little  cud  on  the  middle  of  Tad's  bed,  but  now  she  's 
gone.  .  .  . 

The  President's  affection  for  his  youngest  boy 
was  such  that  they  were  together  much  of  the 
time,  even  while  the  father  was  receiving  callers 
or  attending  to  official  business  in  the  White 
House,  and  nearly  always  when  visiting  the  army 
at  the  front  or  in  the  defenses  around  Washing 
ton.  They  came  to  the  War  Department  to 
gether  very  often. 

Many  stories  are  told  of  Tad's  mischievous 
pranks,  and  of  his  father's  close  companionship 
with  his  favorite  boy.  Tinker  records  that  on 
one  occasion  Lincoln  came  into  the  telegraph  of- 

211 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

fice  chuckling  to  himself  over  a  fairy  story-book 
that  some  one  had  given  to  Tad,  who  was  holding 
his  father's  hand  as  he  entered  the  room.  He 
thereupon  repeated  the  story  to  the  cipher-oper 
ators.  It  told  how  a  mother  hen  tried  to  raise  a 
brood  of  chicks,  but  was  much  disturbed  over  the 
conduct  of  a  sly  old  fox  who  ate  several  of  the 
youngsters  while  still  professing  to  be  an  honest 
fox;  so  the  anxious  mother  had  a  serious  talk 
with  the  old  reynard  about  his  wickedness. 
"Well,  what  was  the  result  C  one  of  us  asked, 
when  it  appeared  that  Lincoln  did  not  intend  to 
continue  his  narrative.  "The  fox  reformed," 
said  Lincoln,  his  eyes  twinkling,  "and  became  a 
highly  respected  paymaster  in  the  army,  and  now 
I  am  wondering  which  one  he  is."  The  signifi 
cance  of  this  reference  is  in  the  fact  that  about 
that  time  there  were  rumors  of  fraud  in  the  Pay 
master's  Department. 

My  comrade,  Madison  Buell  of  Buffalo,  Xew 
York,  has  given  an  account  of  a  visit  of  Lincoln 
to  the  War  Department,  accompanied  as  usual  by 
Tad,  who  wandered  through  the  cipher-office 
into  the  adjoining  room,  where  the  telegraph 
instruments  were  located,  each  set  (relay, 
sounder,  and  key)  resting  on  a  marble- 

212 


LINCOLN'S  LOVE  FOR  HIS  CHILDREN 

topped  table.  In  pure  mischief  Tad  thrust  his 
fingers  into  an  ink-well  and  wiped  them  across 
several  of  the  white  tops,  making  a  horrible  mess. 
Buell  seized  the  boy  by  the  collar  and  marched 
him  at  arm's  length  into  the  cipher-room,  where 
his  father  was  seated  looking  over  the  latest 
despatches  which  he  had  taken  from  the  little 
drawer  of  the  cipher-desk.  Each  one  of  the  trio 
was  surprised  and  a  little  embarrassed,  Buell 
perhaps  more  so  than  the  other  two.  Tad  held 
up  his  inky  fingers,  while  Buell,  with  a  look  of 
disgust  on  his  face,  pointed  through  the  open 
door  to  the  row  of  marble  tops  smeared  with  ink. 
Lincoln  took  in  the  situation  at  once,  and  with 
out  asking  for  further  explanation,  lifted  his  boy 
in  his  arms  and  left  the  office,  saying  in  a  pleas 
ant  tone,  "Come,  Tad;  Buell  is  abusing  you." 

Lincoln  went  to  City  Point  in  March,  1865, 
and,  as  usual,  Tad  went  with  him  and  remained 
with  his  father  after  Mrs.  Lincoln  returned  to 
Washington  a  week  later.  Tad  became  a  great 
pet  among  the  officers  and  men.  Each  after 
noon,  during  their  two  weeks'  stay,  the  headquar 
ters'  band  marched  up  to  the  open  space  near  the 
President's  tent,  and  played  popular  airs  for  an 
hour  or  so.  Tad  enjoyed  the  music  of  the  brass 

213 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

band  very  greatly,  and  was  on  the  lookout  each 
afternoon  when  the  appointed  hour  approached. 
As  soon  as  he  heard  the  strains  of  music  in  the 
distance  he  would  jump  up  and  down  and  shout: 
"There  comes  our  band!  there  comes  our  band!" 

Robert  Todd  Lincoln,  the  President's  eldest 
son  (born  1843),  was  even  more  quiet  and  re 
served  in  his  manner  than  Willie;  and  came  to 
the  War  Department  with  his  father  very  sel 
dom.  He  was  absent  from  Washington,  at  col 
lege,  part  of  the  time  during  the  war,  and  just 
before  its  close  received  the  appointment  of  cap 
tain,  and  was  assigned  to  Grant's  staff,  remain 
ing  with  him  until  Lee's  surrender.  After  the 
war  he  entered  the  legal  profession.  During 
President  Arthur's  administration  he  was  Secre 
tary  of  War  and  in  Harrison's  administration 
Minister  to  England,  performing  the  duties  of 
both  high  offices  with  signal  ability. 

Much  has  been  said  about  Lincoln  being  influ 
enced  by  his  dreams.  For  instance,  it  has  been 
stated  by  good  authorities,  including  members 
of  his  cabinet,  that  before  each  of  the  great  bat 
tles  of  the  war,  and  also  before  the  occurrence  of 
some  other  specially  notable  event  in  his  life,  he 
had  a  vivid  dream  which  led  him  to  look  forward 

214 


LINCOLN'S  LOVE  FOR  HIS  CHILDREN 

at  such  a  time  with  great  anxiety  for  the  an 
nouncement  of  some  disaster,  or  other  incident, 
of  a  particularly  important  character.  It  is  re 
lated  that  on  the  night  before  his  assassination  he 
had  an  unusually  exciting  dream,  which  he 
thought  was  a  portent  of  impending  danger  of 
some  sort.  That  he  did  have  this  habit  of  being 
deeply  affected  and  influenced  by  these  visions 
of  the  night,  is  clearly  shown  by  the  following 
telegram : 

Washington,  D.  C.,  June  9,  1863. 
MRS.  A.  LINCOLN,  Philadelphia: 

Think  you  had  better  put  Tad's  pistol  away.  I  had  an 
ugly  dream  about  him.  A.  LINCOLN. 

During  the  war  I  was  frequently  asked  by  my 
friends  and  casual  acquaintances  whether  Lin 
coln  was  a  Christian  and  a  member  of  church. 
The  same  question  has  been  asked  many  times 
since  his  death.  My  reply  has  always  been  that 
he  had  a  regular  pew  in  Dr.  Gurley's  Presby 
terian  Church  on  New  York  Avenue  in  Wash 
ington  and  that  he  attended  service  there  fre 
quently,  but  that  I  could  not  vouch  for  his  creed, 
nor  did  I  know  that  he  was  an  enrolled  member  of 
any  church.  Now,  after  my  daily  contact  with  him 
for  four  years,  and  having  studied  his  personality 

215 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE, 

and  character,  as  revealed  in  his  speeches  and 
writings,  and  in  the  innumerable  biographies 
issued  since  the  war  ended,  I  am  of  the  opinion 
that  if  love  be  the  fulfilling  of  the  law  of 
Christ,  Abraham  Lincoln,  in  his  day  and  genera 
tion,  was  the  nearly  perfect  human  example  of 
the  operation  of  that  law.  I  do  not  refer  directly 
to  his  belief  in  a  divine  Being,  nor  in  orthodox 
creeds,  although  his  manifold  utterances  on  the 
subject  of  slavery  and  his  published  writings 
must  ever  proclaim  to  the  thinking  world  the  fact 
that  at  the  very  root  of  his  spiritual  being  he  held 
sacred  the  teachings  of  the  Bible,  and  his  official 
acts  while  in  the  presidential  office,  as  well  as  all 
his  utterances,  oral  and  written,  when  shorn  of  a 
certain  rudeness  incident  to  his  homely  surround 
ings  in  early  life,  exemplified  those  teachings. 

Bishop  Simpson,  one  of  Lincoln's  closest  per 
sonal  friends,  said  in  his  funeral  oration  at  Oakwood 
Cemetery,  Springfield,  Illinois,  May  11,  1865: 

He  believed  in  Christ,  the  Saviour  of  sinners,  and  I  think 
lie  was  sincerely  trying  to  bring  his  life  into  the  principles 
of  revealed  religion.  Certainly,,  if  there  ever  was  a  man 
who  illustrated  some  of  the  principles  of  pure  religion,  that 
man  was  our  departed  President.  I  doubt  if  any  President 
has  ever  shown  such  trust  in  God,  or,  in  public  documents, 
so  frequently  referred  to  divine  aid. 

216 


LINCOLN'S  LOVE  FOR  HIS  CHILDREN 

The  four  years  of  the  Civil  War  comprised 
that  fateful  period  of  his  wonderful  career,  in 
which  the  inborn  kindliness  of  his  nature  was 
taxed  to  the  utmost  by  the  treason  of  some  of  his 
former  political  friends,  by  the  perfidy  and 
malice  of  Northern  disloyalists,  and  by  the  im 
patience  of  certain  would-be  saviors  of  the  Union, 
who  thought  the  war  should  be  carried  on  in  ac 
cordance  with  their  narrow  ideas;  and  whatever 
may  have  been  his  inmost  feelings  respecting  his 
country's  enemies,  and  his  political  foes  and  their 
repeated  efforts  to  sting  and  crush  him,  his  noble 
heart  in  its  outward  expressions,  during  those 
trying,  strenuous  days,  exhibited  only  faith, 
hope  and  charity,  and  the  last  most  prominently 
of  all. 

The  crystallized  opinion  of  the  generation  since 
Lincoln's  death  is  that  his  official  papers,  as  well 
as  his  letters  and  speeches,  are  models  of  clear, 
undefiled  English.  Some  of  them,  notably  his 
Gettysburg  speech  and  second  Inaugural  Ad 
dress,  are  recognized  classics,  to  which  coming 
generations  may  turn  for  patriotic  inspiration 
and  education  in  the  best  forms  of  expression  for 
great  thoughts.  But  beyond  all  beauty  of  form, 
cogent  words  and  irresistible  logic,  inherent 

217 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

* 
in  the  body  of  all  his  utterances,  whether  oral  or 

written,  there  was  something  more ;  there  was  the 
spirit  of  a  simple,  great  man,  the  throb  of  a 
human  heart,  that  had  malice  for  none, 
and  charity  for  all,  and  loving  all,  sought  to 
protect  them  from  injustice  and  wrong.  He 
never  allowed  force  of  logic  or  beauty  of  diction 
in  choice  or  arrangement  of  words  to  obscure  his 
one  great  purpose  to  lead  men  always  to  hate 
tyranny  and  love  freedom. 

On  one  occasion  when  in  the  office  with  Lin 
coln  alone,  he  began  to  talk  of  the  functions  of 
the  eye  and  brain  when  one  was  reading  aloud 
from  a  printed  page.  He  said  that  in  his  boy 
hood  days  he  had  come  across  a  book  in  which 
it  was  stated  that  as  each  letter  of  the  alphabet 
and  each  word  or  sentence  appeared  before  the 
eye,  it  was  pictured  upon  the  retina  so  that  each 
particular  word  could  be  spoken  aloud  at  the 
exact  moment  when  its  printed  form  in  the 
volume  was  reflected  upon  the  eye.  He  dis 
coursed  at  some  length  upon  this  marvel,  re 
marking  upon  the  curious  fact  that  the  eye  is 
capable  of  receiving  simultaneously  several  dis 
tinct  impressions  or  a  series  of  impressions  con 
stantly  changing  as  one  continues  to  read  across 

218 


Half-tone  plate  engraved  by  II.  Davidson 


Secretary  of  War  1862-1868 

Mr.  C.  P.  Filson,  son  of  the  photographer,  writes  that  this  portrait  is 
from  the  last  negative  of  Stanton,  which  was  taken  by  his  father,  David 
son  Filson,  while  Stanton  was  stumping  Ohio  for  General  Grant  in  the 
presidential  canvass  of  1868 


LINCOLN'S   LOVE  FOR  HIS  CHILDREN 

the  page,  and  that  these  numerous  and  sometimes 
radically  different  impressions  are  communicated 
from  eye  to  brain  and  then  back  to  the  vocal 
organs  by  means  of  the  most  delicate  nerves ;  for 
instance,  said  he,  the  eye  may  rest  at  the  same 
instant  not  only  upon  a  single  letter  of  the 
alphabet,  but  upon  a  series  of  letters  forming 
a  given  word,  and  upon  a  moving  procession 
of  words  in  a  sentence,  and  not  only  that,  but  the 
resultant  record  of  all  these  numerous  and  dif 
ferent  impressions  is  translated  by  the  brain  into 
thought  and  sent  back;  telegraphed  as  it  were, 
to  the  organs  of  speech,  each  organ  selecting  its 
own  particular  message,  the  whole  sentence  then 
being  spoken  aloud  even  while  the  eye  is  still 
resting  upon  the  printed  page.  The  skilled  ac 
countant  casts  up  a  long  column  of  figures  as 
fast  as  his  eye  moves  down  the  page,  and  at  the 
instant  he  reaches  the  end  of  his  column  his 
ready  fingers  jot  down  the  total.  In  other  words, 
he  added,  communications  are  being  transmitted 
continuously  and  simultaneously  in  both  direc 
tions  between  the  outer  and  inner  senses.  He 
likened  this  mysterious,  instantaneous  and  two 
fold  operation  to  the  telegraph,  although  as  re 
gards  the  dual  process  it  should  be  remembered 

221 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

that  the  invention  of  duplex  telegraphy  was  not 
brought  into  use  until  more  than  ten  years  after 
this  interesting  discourse  of  Lincoln  in  the  pres 
ence  of  his  solitary  auditor. 

Over  thirty  years  after  this  incident  was  re 
corded  in  my  diary,  I  found  in  his  "Complete 
Works"  (Vol.  I,  pp.  522-526),  a  lecture 
on  "Discoveries  and  Inventions,"  which  he  deliv 
ered  at  various  towns  in  Illinois  in  1859,  and 
which  contained  several  of  the  analytical  ideas 
which  he  had  mentioned  in  his  talk  with  me;  for 
instance,  in  his  lecture  he  says,  "Run  your  eye 
over  the  printed  list  of  numbers  from  one  to  one 
hundred  ...  it  is  evident  that  every  separate 
letter,  amounting  to  eight  hundred  and  sixty- 
four,  has  been  recognized  and  reported  to  the 
mind  within  the  incredibly  short  space  of  twenty 
seconds  or  one  third  of  a  minute." 

That  entire  lecture  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  is  full  of 
interesting  ideas,  expressed  with  great  clearness, 
and  appears  to  have  been  the  result  of  a  consid 
erable  amount  of  close  study  on  his  part.  It 
could  well  be  made  a  text-book  for  lyceums  and 
schools,  its  perusal  and  study  suggesting  new 
lines  of  thought  and  aiding  in  the  formation  of 
habits  of  analysis  and  logical  reasoning  from 

222 


LINCOLN'S   LOVE  FOR  HIS  CHILDREN 

every-day  facts,  that  could  not  fail  to  be  of  great 
service  to  each  growing  generation. 

I  am  led  to  mention  Lincoln's  love  of  Shak- 
spere  because  in  the  winter  of  1865,  a  few  months 
before  his  death,  he  went  a  number  of  times  to 
see  James  H.  Hackett  play  Falstaff,  and  for  a 
week  or  more  he  carried  in  his  pocket  a  well-worn 
copy  in  small  compass  of  "Macbeth,"  and  one  of 
"The  Merry  Wives  of  Windsor,"  selections  from 
both  of  which  he  read  aloud  to  us  in  the  telegraph 
office.  On  one  occasion  I  was  his  only  auditor, 
and  he  recited  several  passages  to  me  with  as 
much  interest  apparently  as  if  there  had  been  a 
full  house.  He  was  very  fond  of  Hackett  per 
sonally,  and  of  the  character  of  Falstaff,  and 
frequently  repeated  some  of  the  latter's  quaint 
sallies.  I  recall  that  in  his  recitation  for  my 
benefit  he  criticized  some  of  Hackett's  render 
ings.  He  wrote  a  letter  to  that  gentleman  on 
August  17,  1863,  in  which  he  said: 

For  one  of  my  age  I  have  seen  very  little  of  the  drama. 
The  first  presentation  of  Falstaff  I  ever  saw  was  yours,, 
here  last  winter  or  spring.  Perhaps  the  best  compliment  I 
can  pay  is  to  say  as  I  truly  can,  I  am  very  anxious  to  see  it 
again  ...  I  think  nothing  equals  "Macbeth."  It  is  won 
derful.  .  .  . 

A.  K.  McClure,  in  his  "Life  of  Lincoln," 
223 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

speaks  of  the  latter's  love  of  the  great  master  and 
mentions  an  interview  between  Lincoln,  Judge 
Kelley,  and  an  actor  named  McDonough,  during 
which  Lincoln  took  from  a  shelf  a  well-thumbed 
copy  of  Shakspere  and  turning  to  "Henry  IV" 
read  with  discrimination  an  extended  passage, 
which  he  said  was  not  surpassed  in  wit  and  humor 
by  anything  else  in  literature.  The  omission  from 
the  acted  play  of  the  passage  in  question  was  re 
marked  upon  by  Lincoln  as  curious. 

All  these  incidents  show  an  intimate  acquain 
tance  with  the  text  of  Shakspere's  writings  and 
not  only  so,  but  a  keen  and  discriminating  appre 
ciation  of  their  depth  and  meaning.  While  on 
this  subject  I  am  reminded  of  an  incident  occur 
ring  early  in  1864. 

James  E.  Murdoch  of  Cincinnati,  an  actor  of 
repute  before  the  war,  upon  learning  that  his  son 
had  enlisted  and  was  in  camp  at  Lancaster,  Penn 
sylvania,  went  there  to  say  good-by  to  his  boy. 
He  whiled  away  some  of  his  otherwise  idle  time 
in  camp  in  making  patriotic  speeches  and  giving 
recitations,  to  the  great  delight  of  the  officers  and 
men  of  the  regiment.  Afterward  he  visited  other 
regiments  and  companies  at  enlistment  points 
and  also  at  the  front,  devoting  a  large  part  of 

224 


LINCOLN'S  LOVE  FOR  HIS  CHILDREN 

his  time  for  several  years  to  the  task  of  con 
tributing  to  the  comfort  of  the  soldiers  in  the 
army  through  the  medium  of  the  United  States 
Sanitary  Commission.  Murdoch's  favorite  reci 
tations  were  the  stirring  poems  of  George  H. 
Boker,  Julia  Ward  Howe,  Francis  de  Haes  Jan 
vier,  and  T.  Buchanan  Read.  In  1863,  a  relative 
or  friend  of  Murdoch  was  court-martialed  for 
sleeping  on  post,  or  for  some  other  serious  vio 
lation  of  military  duty,  and  Murdoch's  married 
sister  Adelaide  visited  Washington  to  intercede 
for  the  boy's  life.  A  Mrs.  Guthrie  of  Wheeling, 
having  known  Major  Eckert  when  both  were 
children,  asked  him  to  secure  an  interview  with 
the  President  for  Mrs.  Murdoch.  This  was 
done,  and  the  appeal  was  so  effective  that  the 
President  pardoned  the  soldier.  Whether  this 
man  was  named  William  Scott  (from  Ver 
mont),  whose  pardon  by  Lincoln  inspired  Jan 
vier  to  write  his  beautiful  poem  entitled  "The 
Sleeping  Sentinel,"  is  not  recorded.  Murdoch, 
in  his  volume,  "Patriotism  in  Poetry  and  Prose," 
says  of  this  poem : 

I  had  the  pleasure  of  reading  this  beautiful  and  touching 
poem  for  the  first  time  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lincoln  and  a  se 
lect  party  of  their  friends  at  the  White  House,  by  invita- 

225 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

tion  of  Senator  Foote  of  Vermont.  .  .  .  Its  second  reading 
was  in  the  Senate  Chamber,  the  proceeds  being  for  the  aid 
of  our  sick  and  wounded  soldiers. 

Soon  after  the  relative  (or  friend)  of 
Murdoch  had  been  pardoned,  the  latter  vis 
ited  Washington  and  went  with  Eckert  to  the 
White  House  to  thank  the  President  in  person 
for  his  merciful  act.  During  the  interview  Lin 
coln  told  Murdoch  how  much  he  appreciated  his 
splendid  work  for  the  Union  cause,  and  added 
that  if  agreeable  he  would  like  him  to  recite  some 
thing  from  Shakspere.  Murdoch  said  he  would 
prefer  to  do  that  on  another  occasion  so  that  he 
might  select  something  suitable  and  prepare  him 
self,  but  that  if  the  President  would  allow  him 
he  would  then  recite  a  poem  entitled  "Mustered 
Out,"  by  W.  E.  Miller.  The  words  are  put  into 
the  mouth  of  a  dying  soldier,  who  in  one  of  the 
verses  says: 

I  am  no  saint; 

But,  boys,  say  a  prayer.     There  's  one  that  begins 
"Our  Father,"  and  then  says  "Forgive  us  our  sins." 
Don't  forget  that  part,  say  that  strongly,  and  then 
I  '11  try  to  repeat  it,  and  you  '11  say  "Amen." 

When  the  poem  was  finished  Murdoch  asked 
permission  to  continue  the  theme  by  giving  in 
full  the  Lord's  Prayer,  and  the  President,  who 

226 


LINCOLN'S  LOVE  FOR  HIS  CHILDREN 

was  visibly  affected  by  Murdoch's  fine  rendering 
of  the  beautiful  poem,  nodded  his  assent;  Mur 
doch  then  began,  "Our  Father,  who  art  in  heaven," 
and  in  a  most  reverent  and  devout  manner  re 
peated  the  whole  prayer,  Mr.  Lincoln  audibly  join 
ing  in  the  closing  petitions.  When  he  had  con 
cluded,  all  three  of  the  group  were  in  tears. 
Eckert  says  that  on  the  following  day  Murdoch, 
accompanied  by  the  late  Mr.  Philp  (of  Philp 
and  Solomons),  visited  Mr.  Lincoln  and  gave 
some  readings  from  Shakspere.  On  a  later  occa 
sion  (Feb.  15,  1864),  Mr.  Nicolay,  private  sec 
retary,  wrote  Murdoch  thus: 

MY  DEAR  SIR:  The  President  directs  me  to  send  you  the 
enclosed  little  poem  and  to  request  that  if  entirely  conve 
nient  you  will  please  to  read  it  at  the  Senate  Chamber  this 
evening. 

The  printed  inclosure  read  thus : 

The  following  patriotic  lines  were  written  by  one  of  the 
most  distinguished  statesmen  of  the  United  States  in  answer 
to  a  lady's  inquiry  whether  he  was  for  peace." 

Note  by  Author,  there  were  in  all  eight  stanzas,  the  first 
of  which  only  is  here  quoted,  as  follows : 

"Am  I  for  Peace?     Yes! 
For  the  peace  which  rings  out  from  the  cannon's  throat, 

And  the  suasion  of  shot  and  shell^ 
Till  rebellion's  spirit  is  trampled  down 

To  the  depths  of  its  kindred  hell." 

14  227 


XVI 

A  BOGUS  PROCLAMATION 

ON  May  18, 1864,  there  appeared  in  two  New 
York  papers— the  "World"  and  "Journal 
of  Commerce" — what  purported  to  be  an  official 
proclamation,  signed  "Abraham  Lincoln,  Presi 
dent,"  and  attested  by  William  H.  Seward,  Secre 
tary  of  State,  calling  for  a  levy  of  400,000  men  for 
the  army,  and  appointing  May  26  as  a  day  of  fast 
ing,  humiliation,  and  prayer  for  the  nation.  The 
author  of  the  forgery,  for  such  it  proved  to  be, 
in  some  of  his  phrases  and  wording  had  copied 
Lincoln's  peculiar  and  forceful  style  of  writing 
so  closely,  that  it  is  remarkable  no  more  than  two 
New  York  morning  papers  (to  all  of  whom 
copies  were  sent)  fell  into  the  trap.  Without 
burdening  this  account  with  the  full  text  of  the 
document,  it  will  be  sufficient  to  quote  the  first 
two  paragraphs. 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  D.  C.t  May  17,  1864. 
FELLOW  CITIZENS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES: 

In  all  exigencies  it  becomes  a  Nation  carefully  to  scrutinize 
its  line  of  conduct,  humbly  to  approach  the  Throne  of  Grace 
and  meekly  to  implore  forgiveness,  wisdom  and  guidance. 

228 


A  BOGUS  PROCLAMATION 

For  reasons  known  only  to  Him,  it  has  been  decreed 
that  this  country  should  be  the  scene  of  unparalleled  out 
rage,  and  this  Nation  the  monumental  sufferer  of  the  nine 
teenth  century.  With  a  heavy  heart  but  an  undiminished 
confidence  in  our  cause,  I  approach  the  performance  of 
duty,  rendered  imperative  by  sense  of  weakness  before  the 
Almighty,  and  of  justice  to  the  people  .  .  . 

Then,  after  a  reference  to  Grant's  Wilderness 
Campaign,  the  Red  River  disaster  and  other  mili 
tary  movements,  there  followed  a  recommenda 
tion  that  the  "26th  day  of  May,  1864,  be  set 
apart  as  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer."  The  docu 
ment  closed  with  a  call  for  400,000  men  to  be 
raised  by  draft,  if  not  furnished  by  volunteering 
before  June  15,  1864. 

It  was  well  known  to  the  Northern  public  that 
Grant's  "Wilderness"  campaign  in  Virginia  had 
caused  an  immense  loss  of  life,  and  that  Lee's 
stubborn  resistance  to  the  repeated  and  terrific 
onslaughts  of  Grant's  army  indicated  a  further 
protracted  struggle  "on  that  line,  if  it  took  all 
summer,"  so  that  in  a  measure  the  country  was 
prepared  for  an  additional  call  for  troops,  if  the 
President  should  deem  it  necessary.  But  the 
false  news  had  only  a  transient  effect,  even  upon 
Wall  Street,  in  depressing  security  values.  In 
fact,  owing  to  the  alertness  of  the  New  York  and 

229 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

Washington  commercial  telegraph  staff,  official 
denial  from  the  authorities  at  Washington  was 
made  public  so  promptly  that  there  was  no  ap 
parent  effect  on  the  financial  markets.  Gold  rose 
5  or  6  per  cent,  on  that  day,  but  fell  again  as  soon 
as  the  forgery  was  exposed.1  The  author  of  the 
bogus  proclamation  must  therefore  have  been 
disappointed  at  the  failure  of  his  scheme  in  its 
market  effect;  for  his  sole  purpose,  as  he  after 
ward  confessed,  was  to  cause  such  fluctuations  in 
the  prices  of  stocks,  bonds  and  gold,  as  to  enable 
him  and  his  single  confederate  to  make  money. 

The  news  of  the  publication  of  the  bogus  proc 
lamation  was  promptly  telegraphed  to  the  War 
Department  by  the  manager  of  the  New  York 
telegraph  office  (Mr.  M.  S.  Roberts),  and  was 
soon  followed  by  a  telegram  from  General  Dix: 

New  York,  May  18,  1864. 

HON.  W.  H.  SEWARD,  Secretary  of  State,  Washington, 
D.  C. :  A  proclamation  by  the  President,  countersigned  by 
you  and  believed  to  be  spurious,  has  appeared  in  some  of 
our  morning  papers,  calling  for  400,000  men,  and  appoint 
ing  the  26th  inst.  as  a  day  of  fasting,  humiliation,  and 
prayer.  Please  answer  immediately  for  steamer. 

JOHN  A.  Dix,  Major  General. 

1  Later  gold  reached  a  much  higher  figure;  on  October  31,  1864, 
it  was  227  and  on  November  9,  the  day  after  the  presidential  elec 
tion,  it  rose  to  260. 

230 


A  BOGUS  PROCLAMATION 

At  that  time  there  were  no  transatlantic  ocean 
cables.1  News  to  Europe  must  therefore  be  sent 
by  steamer,  ten  days  being  the  usual  time  occu 
pied  by  the  passage.  The  next  day,  May  19,  was 
steamer  day,  and  this  explains  the  closing  para 
graph  in  General  Dix's  telegram. 

A  conference  was  at  once  held  in  the  War  De 
partment,  President  Lincoln  having  sent  for 
Secretary  Seward,  who  drew  up  an  address  to 
the  public,  which  was  telegraphed  to  General  Dix 
and  distributed  to  all  newspapers,  as  follows : 

Department  of  State,  Washington,  D.  C.,  May  18,  1864. 

To  THE  PUBLIC:  A  paper  purporting  to  be  a  proclama 
tion  of  the  President,  countersigned  by  the  Secretary  of 
State,  and  bearing  date  the  17th  day  of  May,  is  reported  to 
this  Department  as  having  appeared  in  the  New  York 
"World"  of  this  date.  The  paper  is  an  absolute  forgery. 
No  proclamation  of  that  kind  or  any  other  has  been  made 
or  proposed  to  be  made  by  the  President,  or  issued  or  pro 
posed  to  be  issued  by  the  State  Department,  or  any  other 
Department  of  the  Government. 

WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD,  Secretary  of  State. 

Copy  to  be  sent  to  the  New  York  press  and  to  Charles 
Francis  Adams,  U.  S.  Minister,  London;  and  William  L. 
Dayton,  U.  S.  Minister,  Paris,  by  outgoing  steamer. 

Secretary  Stanton  also  telegraphed  General 
Dix  that  "the  spurious  proclamation  was  a  base 

1  The  first  cable  opened  for  actual  business  July  27,  1866. 

231 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

and  treasonable  forgery."  Stanton  never  minced 
matters  in  his  reference  to  anything  savoring  of 
disloyalty  to  the  Government. 

Lincoln  wrote  a  despatch  over  his  own  signa 
ture,  extracts  from  which  are  given  below: 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  D.  C.,  May  18,  1864. 

MAJOR  GENERAL  JNO.  A.  Dix,  Commanding,  New  York. 
Whereas  there  has  been  wickedly  and  traitorously  printed 
and  published  this  morning  jin  the  New  York  "World"  and 
New  York  "Journal  of  Commerce"  ...  a  false  and  spu 
rious  proclamation,  purporting  to  be  signed  by  the  Presi 
dent,  and  to  be  countersigned  by  the  Secretary  of  State, 
which  publication  is  of  a  treasonable  nature,  designed  to 
give  aid  and  comfort  to  the  enemies  of  the  United  States 
and  to  rebels  now  at  war  against  the  Government  .  .  .  you 
are  therefore  hereby  commanded  forthwith  to  arrest  and 
imprison  .  .  .  the  editors,  proprietors  and  publishers  of 
the  aforesaid  newspapers  ...  A.  LINCOLN. 

General  Dix  had  meantime  telegraphed  the 
result  of  his  preliminary  investigation  into  the 
fraud  as  follows: 

New  York,  May  18,  1864. 

HON.  E.  M.  STANTON,  Secretary  of  War:  I  am  investi 
gating  the  gross  fraud  of  this  morning.  The  paper  pur 
porting  to  be  a  proclamation  of  the  President  was  handed 
in  to  the  offices  of  the  city  newspapers  at  4>  o'clock  (A.M.), 
written  on  thin  manifold  paper  of  foolscap  size  like  the 
despatches  of  the  Associated  Press.  In  handwriting  and 
every  other  respect  it  was  admirably  calculated  to  deceive. 

232 


A  BOGUS  PROCLAMATION 

It  was  published  in  the  "World"  and  "Journal  of  Com 
merce."  None  of  the  responsible  Editors  of  either  of  the 
papers  was  present  ...  It  was  printed  by  the  "Herald,," 
but  none  of  the  copies  was  issued,  the  fraud  having  been 
discovered  before  they  left  the  office.  ...  I  think  the  au 
thors  will  be  detected,  and  I  need  not  add  that  I  shall  in 
that  case  arrest  and  imprison  them  for  trifling  in  so  infa 
mous  a  manner  with  the  authority  of  the  Government,  and 
the  feelings  of  the  community  at  this  important  juncture  in 

our  public  affairs.  .  .  .      T  _        ,.,   .       ~  , 

JOHN  A.  Dix,  Major  General. 

In  addition  to  Seward's  address  "To  the  Pub 
lic,"  a  copy  of  which  was  to  be  sent  by  steamer  to 
our  ministers  abroad,  he  sent  the  following  by 
the  same  means  of  communication: 

Department  of  State,  Washington,  D.  C.,  May  18,  1864. 

CHARLES  FRANCIS  ADAMS,  U.  S.  Minister  Plenipotentiary, 
London,  England. 

WILLIAM  L.  DAYTON,  U.  S.  Minister  Plenipotentiary, 
Paris,  France. 

Orders  have  been  given  for  the  arrest  and  punishment  of 
the  fabricators  and  publishers  of  the  spurious  proclama- 

WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD,  Secretary  of  State. 

Colonel  E.  S.  Sanford,  Military  Supervisor  of 
Telegrams,  was  in  New  York  at  the  time,  and 
attended  in  person  to  this  part  of  the  business, 
as  shown  by  the  following  telegram: 

233 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

New  York,  May  19,  1864. 
HON.  E.  M.  STANTON,  .  .  . 

I  have  the  honor  to  report  that  the  Secretary  of  State's 
despatch  to  Ministers  Adams  and  Dayton  was  deliv 
ered  to  the  Purser  of  the  Scotia1  and  that  he  was  ordered 
by  Mr.  Cunard  to  telegraph  it  from  Queenstown.  Slips 
were  issued  by  some  of  the  morning  papers  exposing  the 
forgery  and  circulated  among  the  passengers  before  the 
vessel  sailed. 

Although  it  was  made  evident  to  General  Dix 
early  in  the  day  that  the  editors  of  the  "World" 
and  "Journal  of  Commerce"  were  innocent  of  the 
fraud,  Secretary  Stanton  forbade  their  release 
until  the  real  culprit  was  found.  Meantime  the 
publication  of  the  fraudulent  document  had  cre 
ated  great  excitement  throughout  the  country. 
The  editors  of  four  other  New  York  papers — 
the  "Herald,"  the  "Times,"  the  "Tribune,"  and 
the  "Sun" — joined  in  a  strong  appeal  to  the 
President  for  the  release  of  the  two  editors  who 
had  been  arrested  and  sent  to  Fort  Lafayette, 
and  for  the  restoration  to  them  of  their  news 
paper  offices.  Governor  Seymour  of  New  York 
fiercely  resented  Secretary  Stanton's  alleged  ty 
rannical  orders  for  the  seizure  of  the  two  news- 

1The  mails  for  the  Scotia  closed  at  10:30  A.M.,  and  Colonel  San- 
ford  sent  the  Government  despatches  for  Europe  by  the  despatch- 
boat  down  the  bay. 

234 


A  BOGUS  PROCLAMATION 

paper  offices,  and  the  arrest  of  the  editors,  claim 
ing  that  they  were  an  unwarranted  interference 
with  the  public  press ;  and  he  even  called  upon  the 
Grand  Jury  to  indict  Stanton  for  his  "illegal" 
acts.  This  request,  however,  was  not  complied 
with.  It  was  not  until  May  22  that  Stanton  or 
dered  the  editors  to  be  released  and  their  estab 
lishments  restored  to  them. 

For  some  reason,  never  made  public,  it  was  at 
first  believed  by  the  authorities  that  the  author  of 
the  forgery  had  concocted  his  scheme  in  Wash 
ington,  and  caused  the  bogus  call  for  additional 
troops  to  be  telegraphed  over  the  wires  of  the  In 
dependent  Telegraph  Company,  a  new  concern 
and  a  rival  of  the  American  Telegraph  Com 
pany.  The  wires  of  the  latter  ran  into  the  War 
Department  and  were  directly  under  the  control 
of  the  Government,  while  those  of  the  Independ 
ent  Company  were  not  under  such  direct  super 
vision.  Major  Eckert,  under  orders  from  Secre 
tary  Stanton,  went  personally  to  the  Independ 
ent  Company's  office  on  Twelfth  Street,  Washing 
ton,  and  ordered  the  superintendent,  Mr.  James 
N".  Worl  (who  is  still  living  in  Philadelphia, 
now  over  eighty  years  old)  to  deliver  up  all  mes 
sages  and  news  reports  in  his  custody.  Worl  at 

235 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

first  refused,  claiming  they  were  confidential  and 
privileged  communications,  but  Eckert's  de 
mand  was  backed  up  by  General  Wiswell,  who 
called  in  a  file  of  soldiers  from  the  outside  to  act 
as  a  guard  while  Eckert  actually  took  possession 
of  the  office  and  its  contents,  as  shown  by  this  re 
port: 

Ninth  Street  Office,  Washington,  D.  C.,  May  18,  1864. 

HON.  EDWIN  M.  STANTON,  Secretary  of  War:  I  have  the 
honor  to  report  that  the  arrests  have  been  made  and  the  of 
fice  closed.  THOS.  T.  ECKERT,  Major,  Supt.,  Military  Tele 
graphs. 

Mr.  Worl  in  an  interview  published  in  March, 
1905,  in  the  "Telegraph  Age,"  states  that  the 
writer  was  placed  in  charge  of  the  captured  office, 
but  in  this  he  is  mistaken.  Mr.  Tinker  is  the  one 
to  whom  was  assigned  that  duty,  while  I  remained 
in  the  War  Department.  I  clearly  recall  Tin 
ker's  return  and  his  oral  report  to  Secretary  Stan- 
ton  that  the  entire  staff  of  the  office  in  question 
had  started  for  Old  Capitol  Prison  in  a  pouring 
rain,  and  that  he  had  possession  of  all  messages 
and  news  reports,  but  had  not  yet  found  the  orig 
inal  of  the  bogus  proclamation. 

Meantime  Secretary  Stanton  telegraphed 
General  Dix  to  seize  the  New  York  offices  of  the 

236 


A  BOGUS  PROCLAMATION 

Independent  Telegraph  Company  at  Cedar  and 
Nassau  streets,  and  in  the  Gold  Room  in  William 
Street,  the  Brokers  Exchange,  etc.,  arrest  the 
superintendents,  managers  and  operators,  and 
confine  them  in  Fort  Lafayette.  Similar  orders 
were  sent  to  General  Lew  Wallace  at  Baltimore, 
General  Cadwallader  at  Philadelphia,  and  the 
commanding  officers  at  Harrisburg  and  Pitts- 
burg.1 

Dix  at  New  York,  under  Stanton's  imper 
ative  orders,  seized  the  offices  of  the  Independent 
Company  and  arrested  the  manager — Wallace 
Learning,  and  his  staff  of  operators  and  clerks. 
The  entire  party  were  escorted,  under  guard, 
to  Dix's  headquarters.  The  charge  preferred 
against  them  was  "aiding  and  abetting  in  the 
transmission  over  the  wires  of  the  Independent 
Telegraph  Company  of  a  forged  document  pur 
porting  to  be  a  proclamation  by  the  President  of 

1  In  Pennsylvania  the  company  was  called  the  Inland  Telegraph 
Company.  The  employees  arrested  at  Baltimore,  Philadelphia, 
Harrisburg  and  Pittsburg  were  sent  under  guard  to  Washington. 
Of  the  telegraph  people  who  were  thus  arrested  and  imprisoned 
unjustly,  as  was  soon  found  to  be  the  case,  only  a  few  survive, 
among  them  Jesse  H.  Robinson  of  Washington,  D.  C.,  manager  of 
the  Weather  Bureau  Telegraph  Department,  James  N.  Worl  of  Phila 
delphia  and  Robert  C.  Edwards  and  George  A.  Hamilton  of  New 
York,  the  last  two  having  held  responsible  positions  with  the  Western 
Union  Telegraph  Company  for  many  years. 

237 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

the  .United  States  and  by  William  H.  Seward, 
Secretary  of  State,  which  had  been  .  .  .  pub 
lished  in  two  New  York  newspapers." 

Conjecture  the  feelings  of  Manager  Learning 
and  his  comrades  when  they  faced  this  charge  in 
the  presence  of  the  stern  old  warrior,  the  author 
of  the  sentiment  that  had  thrilled  every  loyal  heart 
at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  "If  any  one  attempts 
to  haul  down  the  American  flag,  shoot  him  on  the 
spot."  Perhaps  they  might  be  summarily  tried 
and  executed.  Sadly  they  heard  the  order  given 
that  they  were  to  be  confined  in  Fort  Lafayette, 
and  they  soon  began  their  march  under  guard  to 
the  Battery,  where  the  Per  dan  was  waiting  to 
carry  them  down  the  bay.  The  telegram  was 
sent  to  the  War  Department : 

May  18,  1864. 

The  manager,  superintendent  and  operators  of  the  tele 
graph  line  were  arrested  at  5  P.M.,  and  will  be  sent  to  Fort 
Lafayette  in  an  hour.  JOHN  A.  Dix,  Maj.  Genl. 

General  Cadwallader  at  Philadelphia  tele 
graphed  to  Stanton  on  May  18:  "Lines  seized, 
manager,  operators  and  superintendent  arrested 
and  sent  to  Washington." 

1  The  original  of  this  famous  despatch,  dated  January  29,  1861,  is 
in  the  possession  of  the  Lincoln  Club  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

238 


A  BOGUS  PROCLAMATION 

Captain  Foster,  Provost  Marshal,  Pittsburg, 
telegraphed :  "At  5 :30  P.M.  seized  office  of  Inland 
Telegraph  Company  and  will  send  manager  and 
three  other  employees  to  Washington  at  8 :35." 

Colonel  Bomford  at  Harrisburg  telegraphed: 
"At  7  P.M.  seized  Independent  Telegraph  line, 
(self-styled  Inland  and  American  line)  papers 
and  operators." 

Two  days  later  General  Dix  telegraphed  to  the 
Secretary  of  War: 

I  have  arrested  and  am  sending  to  Fort  Lafayette,  Jos 
eph  Howard,  the  author  of  the  forged  proclamation.  He  is 
a  newspaper  man  and  is  known  as  Howard  of  the  "Times." 
He  has  been  very  frank  in  his  confession,  says  it  was  a 
stock-jobbing  operation  and  that  no  person  connected  with 
the  press  had  any  agency  in  the  transaction,  except  another 
reporter,1  who  took  manifold  and  distributed  the  copies  to 
the  newspapers,  and  whose  arrest  I  have  ordered  .  .  . 

To  the  above  Stanton  replied  at  9:10  P.M., 
May  20: 

Your  telegram  respecting  the  arrest  of  Howard  has  been 
received  and  submitted  to  the  President.  He  directs  me  to 
say  that  while  in  his  opinion  the  editors,  proprietors  and 
publishers  of  the  "World"  and  "Journal  of  Commerce"  are 
responsible  for  what  appears  in  their  papers  injurious  to 


1  "The  New  York  Times,"  May  22,  1864,  gives  the  name  as  F.  H. 
Mallison. 

239 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

the  public  service  and  have  no  right  to  shield  themselves 
behind  a  plea  of  ignorance  or  want  of  criminal  intent,  yet, 
he  is  not  disposed  to  visit  them  with  vindictive  punishment, 
and,  hoping  they  will  exercise  more  caution  and  regard  for 
the  public  welfare  in  future,  he  authorizes  you  to  restore  to 
them  their  respective  establishments. 

The  next  day,  May  21,  Dix  reported  that  the 
"superintendent,  manager  and  operators  are 
completely  exonerated  from  the  charge  of  com 
plicity  in  the  publication  of  the  proclamation 
fraud."  Whereupon  Stanton  directed  that  the 
telegraph  employees  be  released,  but  that  the 
telegraph  offices  be  still  held.  Similar  action  was 
taken  in  respect  to  the  telegraph  employees  from 
Philadelphia,  Harrisburg,  Pittsburg,  Baltimore 
and  Washington,  who  had  been  put  in  Old  Capi 
tol  Prison.  Forty-eight  hours  later  the  telegraph 
offices  were  restored  to  the  telegraph  company,  to 
whom  a  clean  bill  of  health  was  given,  together 
with  an  offer  to  allow  their  wires  to  be  connected 
with  the  War  Department,  so  that  a  share  of  the 
Government  telegraph  business  might  be  given 
to  them. 

Howard,  the  author  of  the  forged  proclama 
tion,  was  a  newspaper  correspondent  of  ability 
as  a  collector  of  news,  and  a  fluent  writer.  He 
had  formerly  acted  as  Rev.  Henry  Ward 

240 


A  BOGUS  PROCLAMATION 

Beecher's  secretary.  Mr.  Beecher  had  a  strong 
liking  for  Howard,  notwithstanding  his  action 
in  this  instance,  and  he  made  an  urgent  appeal  to 
the  President  for  his  release.  Howard's  person 
ality  was  pleasing,  and  for  forty  years  he  has 
maintained  a  position  of  prominence  as  a  news 
paper  writer. 

In  considering  Mr.  Beecher's  appeal,  Lincoln 
could  not  have  forgotten  the  valiant  and  useful 
service  that  distinguished  man  had  rendered  this 
country  during  the  early  part  of  the  war,  in  his 
masterly  speeches  in  support  of  the  Union  cause, 
delivered  in  many  cities  of  England,  when  the 
tide  of  sentiment  there  seemed  to  be  setting  so 
strongly  against  us. 

The  following  despatches  passed  with  regard 
to  the  release  of  Howard: 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  August  22,  1864. 
Hon.  Secretary  of  War, 

MY  DEAR  SIR:  I  very  much  wish  to  oblige  Henry  Ward 
Beecher  by  releasing  Howard;  but  I  wish  you  to  be  satis 
fied  when  it  is  done.  What  say  you  ?  Yours  truly, 

A.  LINCOLN. 

I  have  no  objection,  if  you  think  it  right — and  this  is  a 
proper  time.  E.  M.  S. 

241 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

It  will  be  observed  that  Stanton  did  not  favor  the 
release  of  Howard,  but  Lincoln  had  a  more  mer 
ciful  nature  -and  the  next  day  issued  the  order : 

Let  Howard,  imprisoned  in  regard  to  the  bogus  procla 
mation,  be  discharged.  A.  LINCOLN. 
August  23,  1864. 

While  the  search  for  the  culprit  was  in  full 
tide,  Stanton  extended  his  Briarean  arms  to  the 
newspaper  men  in  Washington.  As  his  suspicion 
had  fallen  upon  the  telegraph  company  because 
of  its  newness,  it  also  fell  upon  a  news  syndicate 
recently  organized  by  Henry  Villard,  Adams 
Hill  (afterward  Professor  of  Rhetoric  at  Har 
vard),  and  Horace  White,  which  had  attracted  at 
tention  to  itself  by  some  notable  "scoops"  in  the 
way  of  army  news.  He  caused  Villard  to  be  ar 
rested  and  detained  two  days  at  the  headquarters 
of  the  Provost  Marshal  General.  Hill  was  kept 
"under  observation"  for  the  same  period,  and 
White,  who  had  been  one  of  Stanton's  prime  fav 
orites,  but  who  had  recently  resigned  his  position 
in  the  War  Department  to  join  the  news  syndi 
cate,  was  summoned  to  Stanton's  private  office  and 
subjected  to  sharp  questioning.  When  the  real 
culprit  was  discovered  Villard  was  released,  and 

242 


A  BOGUS  PROCLAMATION 

although  no  apologies  were  made  to  him  or  his 
colleagues,  some  choice  scraps  of  news  later 
found  their  way  to  the  office  of  the  syndicate, 
which  supplied  material  for  new  "scoops,"  and 
had  a  soothing  influence  generally. 


15 


243 


XVII 

GRANT'S  WILDERNESS  CAMPAIGN 

ON  March  9,  1864,  Grant  received  his  com 
mission  as  lieutenant-general  and  was 
placed  in  command  of  the  armies  of  the  United 
States,  establishing  his  headquarters  with  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac,  then  near  Culpeper,  Vir 
ginia,  under  the  immediate  command  of  Meade. 
My  war  diary  makes  little  mention  of  events 
at  this  time,  but  the  Rev.  H.  E.  Wing,  now  of 
South  Norwalk,  Connecticut,  has  recalled  an  in 
cident  in  his  experience  that  connects  Lincoln 
with  the  telegraph  office  in  an  interesting  man 
ner.  Grant  had  started  his  Wilderness  Cam 
paign  by  moving  his  army  across  the  Rapidan, 
and  advancing  in  strong  force  against  Lee.  It 
was  an  open  secret  which  Lincoln  himself  shared, 
that  Grant  preferred  to  be  cut  off  from  Wash 
ington  while  making  this  movement.  In  Lin 
coln's  letter  to  Grant  of  April  30,  1864,1  he  says: 
.  .  .  "The  particulars  of  your  plans  I  neither 

1  The  original  of  this  letter  was  sold  at  auction  in  New  York  City 
on  May  19,  1902,  to  G.  H.  Richmond  for  $1050.  See  "  New  York 
Times,"  May  20,  1902. 

244 


GRANT'S  WILDERNESS  CAMPAIGN 

know  nor  seek  to  know  .  .  .  '  So,  when  the 
army  advanced  from  Culpeper  over  the  Rapidan, 
the  telegraph  did  not  follow  immediately,  and  for 
nearly  a  week  we  were  without  any  news  from 
Grant  except  brief  intimations  that  the  two  ar 
mies  had  been  engaged  and  that  Lee  was  being 
slowly  pushed  south.  The  tension  became  very 
great  until,  as  Tinker's  diary  records : 

May  6,  1864.  A  reporter  arrived  at  Union  Mills.  Left 
the  army  near  Chancellorsville  at  four  o'clock  this  morning. 
Everything  pushing  along  favorably.  No  news  direct  from 
Grant. 

That  reporter  was  H.  E.  Wing  of  "The  New 
York  Tribune,"  from  whose  account  of  his  jour 
ney  from  our  army  through  the  enemy's  lines  to 
Union  Mills,  the  following  extract  is  taken: 

I  crawled  out  of  a  rebel  camp  at  Manassas  Junction  at 
dusk  Friday,  May  6,  1864,  and  hustled  down  the  railroad 
track  to  Bull  Run,  where  I  came  into  our  lines  and  learned 
that  our  people  had  no  news  from  the  front.  I  realized  that 
I  was  probably  the  only  one  of  four  or  five  newspaper  men 
who  had  succeeded  in  getting  through.  As  my  paper  would 
have  no  issue  after  the  following  morning  until  Monday, 
May  9,  my  news  would  be  stale  unless  it  went  through  that 
night.  There  was  no  train,  I  could  not  get  a  horse,  so  I 
offered  $500  for  a  hand-car  and  two  men  to  run  it,  but  all  to 
no  avail.  So  I  kept  on  until  I  reached  a  military  telegraph 
office  and  asked  the  operator  to  let  my  report  go  through; 
but  he  refused,  his  orders  being  to  send  no  newspaper  reports 

245 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

over  government  wires.  I  then  sent  a  despatch  to  my  friend, 
Charles  A.  Dana,,  Assistant  Secretary  of  War,,  to  the  effect 
that  I  had  left  Grant  at  four  o'clock  that  morning.  That 
waked  up  the  Department  in  which  there  was  the  utmost 
anxiety.  Instantly  Secretary  Stanton  asked  me  where  Grant 
was  when  I  left  him.  This  assured  me  I  had  a  corner  on 
the  news  from  the  front.  I  replied  that  my  news  belonged 
to  the  "Tribune/'  but  if  he  would  let  one  hundred  words  go 
through  to  my  paper  I  would  tell  him  all  I  knew.  Stan- 
ton's  response  was  a  threat  to  arrest  me  as  a  spy  unless  I 
uncovered  the  news  from  the  army.  This  made  me  very 
anxious,  but  still  I  refused.  I  was  disgusted  that  after  all 
my  enterprise  my  paper  would  not  get  my  important  news. 
But  just  then  Lincoln  must  have  come  into  the  War  Office 
for  I  was  asked  if  I  would  tell  the  President  where  Grant 
was.  I  repeated  my  previous  offer  and  he  accepted  the 
terms  at  once.  I  did  not  have  a  scrap  of  paper  about  my 
person  (discreet  correspondents  in  the  field  never  took  any 
thing  of  that  sort  through  the  lines),  so  I  dictated  to  the 
operator  while  he  transmitted  my  despatch,  which  Lincoln 
would  not  limit  to  one  hundred  words  and  which  was  tele 
graphed  direct  to  New  York  and  appeared  in  Saturday's 
Tribune,"  May  7.  Mr.  Lincoln  ordered  a  locomotive  to  be 
sent  out  on  the  road  to  bring  me  to  Washington,  about 
thirty  miles ;  and  at  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  I  reached  the 
White  House  travel-stained  and  weary,  but  delighted  at 
my  success  in  having  brought  the  first  news  from  Grant's 
army,  and  especially  in  being  honored  by  the  President's 
special  favor.  That  early  morning  interview  with  Lincoln 
was  the  beginning  of  a  strong  friendship  accorded  to  me,  a 
mere  boy,  by  that  wonderful  man,  the  memory  of  which  is 
a  precious  treasure  in  my  heart.1  Mr.  Lincoln  told  me  that 

1MThe  New  York  Tribune"  of  May  7,  1864,  has  a  half  column 
dated  Union  Mills,  Va.,  Friday,  May  6,  9  P.M.,  commencing:  "The 

246 


GRANT'S  WILDERNESS  CAMPAIGN 

to  relieve  the  anxiety  of  the  whole  country  regarding  Grant's 
first  contest  with  Lee  he  decided  to  let  my  despatch  come 
through;  also  that  he  had  arranged  with  Managing  Editor 
Gay  to  give  a  summary  to  the  Associated  Press  to  appear 
in  all  the  papers. 

The  issue  of  May  9,  has  a  despatch  stating  that 

No  one  has  come  in  from  the  army  since  the  "Tribune" 
correspondent.  His  account  was  published  on  Saturday 
morning^  and  no  newspaper  has  any  accounts  from  the  field 
save  those  which  he  bore. 

The  "Tribune,"  May  10,  says  in  a  despatch 
from  Washington: 

The  "Tribune"  messenger  who  brought  not  only  to  the 
Government^  but  to  the  country,  the  first  news  of  the  recent 
great  battles  was  Henry  E.  Wing  of  Connecticut.  He 
footed  half  the  distance  in^  and  was  frequently  fired  on  by 
guerillas.  He  was  a  totally  used  up  pedestrian  when  he 
reached  the  "Tribune"  Bureau  in  this  city — used  up  in  every 
thing  but  pluck.  Mr.  Bushnell  of  New  Haven  heard  of  his 
brave  devotion  to  the  paper  that  employed  him,  and  got  up 
a  little  purse  of  $50,  which  was  given  him  with  a  presenta 
tion  speech  by  Sam  Wilkeson. 

Then  follows  reference  to  another  purse  made  up 
by  newspaper  men,  including  Whitelaw  Reid, 
Uriah  Painter,  Puleston  and  Henry.  The  ac- 

Grand  Army  of  the  Potomac  crossed  the  Rapidan  on  Wednesday." 
Then  follows  an  account  of  Grant's  initial  successes  in  the  great 
movement.  The  despatch  ended  thus:  "I  am  on  my  way  to  Wash 
ington  with  more  complete  reports  that  I  will  send  to-morrow." 

247 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

count  says:  "This  purse  would  have  been  heavier 
if  the  newspaper  men  had  been  richer." 

Lincoln's  action  in  overruling  Stanton's  strict 
orders  barring  press  reports  from  Government 
wires,  in  order  to  relieve  the  general  anxiety, 
discloses  once  more  his  acute  sympathy  with 
and  constant  thought  fulness  for  the  common 
people. 

General  Eckert  has  recently  told  me  the  fol 
lowing  incident  which  well  illustrates  Lincoln's 
kindly  nature. 

On  his  way  to  the  telegraph  office  early  one 
morning  in  April,  1864,  just  before  Grant  started 
on  the  Wilderness  Campaign,  Lincoln  observed  in 
the  hall  a  young  woman  who  seemed  to  be  in  great 
distress.  She  carried  a  baby  in  her  arms  and  was 
pacing  to  and  fro  and  crying.  The  President 
asked  Eckert  to  go  out  and  see  the  woman 
and  learn  the  cause  of  her  trouble.  This  was 
done,  the  major  reporting  that  the  woman  had 
come  to  Washington  thinking  she  could  get  a 
pass  to  the  front  to  enable  her  to  visit  her  hus 
band,  and  let  him  see  his  child,  who  had  been  born 
since  the  father  enlisted ;  but  she  had  learned  that 
she  would  not  be  allowed  to  go  to  the  army.  Lin 
coln  said,  "Major,  let 's  send  her  down."  Eckert 
replied  that  strict  orders  had  been  given  not 

248 


GRANT'S  WILDERNESS  CAMPAIGN 

to  let  women  go  to  the  front.  Stanton,  en 
tering  the  office  at  the  time  and  seeing  the  evident 
sympathy  of  Lincoln  for  the  woman  in  her  trou 
ble,  said,  "Why  not  give  her  husband  a  leave  of 
absence  to  allow  him  to  see  his  wife  in  Washing 
ton?"  The  President  replied :  "Well,  come,  let 's 
do  that.  Major,  you  write  the  message."  But 
Eckert  said  the  order  must  be  given  officially,  and 
Lincoln  replied:  "All  right,  Major;  let  Colonel 
Hardie  (Assistant  Ad  jut  ant- General)  write  the 
order  and  send  it  by  telegraph,  so  the  man  can 
come  right  up."  Colonel  Hardie  wrote  the  mes 
sage,  which  was  telegraphed  to  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac,  and  when  the  sorrowing  woman 
was  informed  of  what  had  been  done,  she 
came  into  the  office  to  express  her  gratitude  to 
the  President.  Lincoln  then  asked  her  where  she 
was  stopping.  She  said  that  she  had  not  yet 
found  a  place,  having  come  direct  from  the  rail 
road  station  to  the  White  House,  and  then  to 
the  War  Department.  Lincoln  then  directed 
Eckert  to  obtain  an  order  from  Colonel  Hardie 
to  allow  the  young  mother  and  her  baby  to 
be  taken  care  of  in  Carver  Hospital  until  her 
husband  arrived.  This  was  done,  and  the  soldier 
was  allowed  to  remain  with  his  wife  and  child  for 
over  a  week  before  returning  to  his  regiment. 

249 


XVIII 

LINCOLN   UNDEE  FIRE  AT  FORT  STEVENS 

TOWARD  the  end  of  June,  1864,  General 
Lee  detached  a  body  of  20,000  men,  includ 
ing  a  large  cavalry  force,  from  the  army  defend 
ing  Richmond  and  sent  them  North  under  the 
command  of  General  Early  for  the  purpose  of 
making  a  quick  dash  into  Maryland  and  to 
Washington,  if  the  capital  were  found  to  be  in 
sufficiently  protected,  as  Lee  had  heard  was  the 
case.  This  condition  of  imminent  danger1  really 
existed,  for  it  is  well  known  that  but  for  the  brave 
and  heroic  action  of  Lew  Wallace  in  attacking 
Early  at  the  mouth  of  the  Monocacy  with  a  force 
much  smaller  in  numbers  than  that  of  the  enemy, 
thus  delaying  Early's  movements  twenty-four 

1  My  war  diary  says : 

July  10,  1864.— The  enemy  broke  the  railroad  at  Laurel  to-day 
(11  miles  out).  Yesterday  they  seized  a  passenger  train  at  Gun 
powder  Bridge,  north  of  Baltimore,  capturing  General  Franklin 
and  staff,  but  they  afterwards  escaped. 

July  11,  1864.  — Great  excitement  in  Washington.  Department 
clerks  are  being  armed  and  sent  to  the  forts  at  the  boundary. 

250 


UNDER  FIRE  AT  FORT  STEVENS 

hours,  the  latter  might  easily  have  reached  and 
entered  Washington  before  reinforcements  could 
have  arrived  from  Grant's  army.  Wallace's 
command  consisted  of  2700  troops,  largely  raw 
militia,  and  about  3300  veterans  belonging  to 
the  6th  Corps  under  General  Ricketts,  the  lat 
ter  having  reached  Baltimore  from  City  Point 
only  two  days  before. 

The  Monocacy  fight  was  waged  all  day  Sat 
urday,  July  9,  and  ended  in  Wallace's  defeat, 
leaving  Early  free  to  resume  his  march  upon 
Washington.  Wallace  sent  this  telegram  to  the 
War  Department  on  Sunday,  July  10:  "I  have 
been  defeated.  The  enemy  are  not  pressing  me, 
from  which  I  infer  they  are  marching  on  Wash 
ington."  This  was  indeed  the  fact,  for  Early's 
advance  reached  the  District  boundary  line  on 
Monday  morning,  and  later  in  the  day  the  signal 
officer  wigwagged  this  sentence:  "The  enemy  is 
within  twenty  rods  of  Fort  Stevens."  Early  at 
once  began  a  reconnaissance  to  learn  the  strength 
and  disposition  of  our  defenses  and  for  two  days 
kept  up  an  almost  continuous  firing  which  could 
be  heard  distinctly  in  Washington. 

There  was  one  considerable  skirmish,  wit 
nessed  by  Lincoln,  whose  summer  residence  was 

251 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

only  four  miles  from  Fort  Stevens,  in  a  cottage 
at  the  Soldiers  Home.  Lincoln  visited  the  forti 
fications  on  Monday  and  Tuesday,  and  on 
both  occasions  was  in  great  danger,  one  of  our 
men  having  been  killed  within  a  few  feet  of 
where  the  President  stood.  His  tall  form  must 
have  been  a  conspicuous  target  for  the  enemy's 
sharp-shooters,  and  it  was  a  matter  of  remark  at 
the  time  that  he  did  not  seem  to  realize  the  serious 
risk  incurred  in  going  to  the  front  of  our  line 
while  skirmishing  was  in  progress.  It  is  of  his 
torical  importance  to  note  that  this  was  the  first 
time  (and  up  to  the  present  the  only  time)  when 
a  President  of  the  United  States,  although  Com- 
mander-in- Chief  of  the  army  and  navy,  has  been 
exposed  to  the  fire  of  the  enemy's  guns  in  battle. 
The  total  number  of  killed  and  wounded  on  both 
sides  in  the  two  days'  skirmishes  at  the  boundary 
line  of  the  District  of  Columbia  was  nearly  1000. 
While  Lincoln  witnessed  the  spirited  skirmish 
with  Early's  troops  in  front  of  Fort  Stevens  on 
July  11,  he  carefully  observed  the  whole  situa 
tion  of  affairs  and  upon  his  return  to  the  city  he 
came  direct  to  the  War  Department  and  gave  us 
a  pretty  full  account,  which  has  been  recorded  by 
my  comrade  Chandler,  as  follows : 

252 


UNDER  FIRE  AT  FORT  STEVENS 

"I  have  in  my  possession  the  diagram  which 
Lincoln  made  in  the  telegraph  office,  immedi 
ately  after  his  return  from  his  tour  of  the  forti 
fications  to  the  north  and  west  of  the  city.  This 
diagram  showed  the  relative  positions  of  the  two 
bodies  of  troops  and  where  the  skirmish  took 
place,  all  of  which  he  explained  to  Major  Eckert, 
Tinker,  Bates  and  myself,  who  were,  of  course, 
extremely  interested  in  his  picturesque  descrip 
tion."  My  comrade,  H.  H.  At  water,  now  of 
Brooklyn,  gives  this  account  of  Early's  raid: 

On  Monday,  July  11,  1864,  I  received  orders  from  Major 
Eckert  to  take  the  telegraph  ambulance  at  the  War  Depart 
ment  and  go  to  Fort  Reno,  Tenallytown,  as  fast  as  possible, 
as  they  were  expecting  an  engagement  at  any  moment.  It 
was  one  of  the  hottest  days  I  ever  experienced,  and  the  dust 
rose  in  clouds  blinding  the  vision.  Beyond  Georgetown  we 
met  a  great  number  of  people  coming  into  Washington  with 
their  household  effects,  some  driving  cattle  and  leading 
horses.  On  each  side  of  the  road  wherever  a  bush  or  tree 
cast  any  shade  soldiers  could  be  discerned  prostrated  by 
sunstroke.  When  half-way  there  my  horses  gave  out  and  I 
started  on  foot,  but  the  driver  overtook  me,  the  horses  having 
had  a  few  minutes'  rest.  The  office  at  General  M.  D.  Har- 
din's  headquarters  was  in  a  building  left  standing  between 
the  two  forts.  This  building  was  demolished  the  next  day 
because  it  was  in  line  with  the  guns  of  the  forts.  On  the  roof 
in  the  blazing  sun,  signal-men  were  wigwagging  their  de 
spatches.  To  the  northeast  we  could  see  the  dust  of  the 
enemy  as  they  moved  back  and  forth.  At  11  P.M.  General 

253 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

Hardin  handed  me  a  message  reading  as  follows:  "A  scout 
just  reports  that  the  enemy  are  preparing  to  make  a  grand 
assault  on  this  fort  to-night.  They  are  tearing  down  fences, 
and  are  moving  to  the  right,  their  bands  playing.  Can't  you 
hurry  up  the  Sixth  Corps?"  General  Hardin  told  me  if 
we  were  attacked  to  run  my  wires  inside  Fort  Reno  and 
keep  up  continuous  communication  with  the  War  Depart 
ment. 

The  next  day,  July  12,  the  skirmish  in  front  of  Fort  Ste 
vens  took  place.  I  could  see  the  fight  from  Fort  Reno.  It 
lasted  until  after  dark.  Operator  Loucks  at  Fort  Stevens 
said  to  me  over  the  wire:  "I  am  going  out  to  take  a  shot  at 
the  rebels." 

On  Tuesday  one  of  Early's  men  was  captured,  and 
after  necessary  pressure  had  been  put  upon  him  he  con 
fessed  that  Early  had  not  made  the  grand  attack  Monday 
night  because  he  learned  of  the  arrival  of  the  Sixth  Corps. 
Had  he  done  so  it  is  probable  he  would  have  come  into 
Washington.  1 

For  forty-eight  hours,  therefore,  the  long- 
coveted  prize  had  been  within  Early's  grasp. 
Never  before  during  the  war  had  a  Confederate 
army  been  so  close  to  Washington  as  to  be 
within  sight  of  the  glittering  dome  of  the  capi- 
tol,  and  Early  must  have  gnashed  his  teeth  when 
he  thought  of  his  one  day's  delay  at  the  Monoc- 
acy,  which  had  been  just  long  enough  to  allow 
veteran  troops  from  Grant's  army  to  reach 

1  Early's  official  report  says  the  weather  was  extremely  hot,  the 
roads  very  dusty,  and  his  troops  utterly  worn  out  and  unfit  for 
an  attack  when  they  reached  our  defenses. 

254 


UNDER  FIRE  AT  FORT  STEVENS 

Washington,  for  neither  he  nor  his  men  failed  to 
recognize  on  the  parapets  of  our  forts  the  well- 
known  flags  of  the  famous  6th  Corps,  a  part  of 
which  brave  body  of  troops  had  fought  him  all 
day  Saturday  at  the  Monocacy.  The  remainder 
of  this  veteran  corps,  under  General  Wright,  had 
landed  at  Seventh  Street  wharf,  Washington,  on 
Monday,  at  just  about  the  hour  at  which  Early 's 
advance  had  come  in  sight  of  Fort  Stevens. 

Emory's  division  of  the  19th  Corps  from  New 
Orleans,  had  also  landed  at  Washington  on  Mon 
day,  July  11,  and  followed  the  6th  Corps  to  the 
front. 

With  the  dawn  of  Wednesday,  however,  it  was 
discovered  that  Early  had  retreated,  and  Wash 
ington  emerged  from  what  is  now  known  to 
have  been  one  of  its  most  serious  crises  during  the 
whole  war,  for,  as  was  said  in  an  address  in  May, 
1902,  by  Leslie  M.  Shaw  (then  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury),  "with  the  national  capital  in  the 
hands  of  the  enemy  it  would  have  been  impossi 
ble  to  prophesy  the  foreign  complications,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  demoralization  of  the  people  of 
the  United  States."  Grant  has  said  of  this  raid, 
"If  Early  had  been  one  day  earlier  he  might  have 
entered  the  capital." 

255 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

This  was  not  the  only  time  Early's  fate  belied 
his  name,  for  three  months  later  his  army  of 
raiders  also  lost  one  day's  time  in  their  calcula 
tions  when  Sheridan  sent  them  whirling  down 
the  Valley  of  the  Shenandoah  after  their  initial 
victory  during  his  temporary  absence  in  Wash 
ington.  1 

1  See  pages  79,  80. 1 


256 


XIX 

CABLES  AND  SIGNALS 

IN  his  Annual  Message  to  Congress,  December, 
1863,  Lincoln,  after  referring  to  the  arrange 
ments  with  the  Czar  of  Russia  for  the  construc 
tion  of  a  line  of  telegraph  from  our  Pacific 
coast  through  the  empire  of  Russia  to  connect 
with  European  systems,  urged  upon  Congress 
favorable  consideration  of  the  subject  of  an  in 
ternational  telegraph  (cable)  across  the  Atlantic 
and  a  cable  connection  between  Washington  and 
our  forts  and  ports  along  the  Atlantic  coast  and 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  In  the  latter  scheme  he 
took  a  deep  personal  interest,  and  he  had  a  num 
ber  of  conferences  with  Cyrus  W.  Field,  the  chief 
exponent  of  ocean  cables. 

My  war  diary  refers  to  one  of  Field's  visits 
to  Washington,  when  Stanton  assigned  to  me 
the  duty  of  transcribing  from  dictation  a  memo 
rial  to  the  Government,  urging  the  laying  of 
a  coast  cable  which  Field  was  engaged  in  pre 
paring.  The  latter  was  intensely  interested  in 
the  subject,  and  being  of  an  excitable  nature,  his 

257 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

words  flowed  from  his  lips  in  a  rapid,  intermittent 
stream,  while  his  thoughts  outran  his  spoken 
words  ten  to  one,  so  that  it  was  not  long  before  I, 
not  being  a  shorthand  writer,  was  engulfed,  and 
the  result  was,  judging  from  my  notes,  that 
Field's  memorial,  like  an  ocean  cable,  was  dis 
cernible  only  at  its  two  ends,  with  here  and  there 
indications  of  a  struggle  and  a  splash.  Several 
weary  hours  were  spent  in  this  way,  and  when  at 
last  some  sort  of  order  had  been  evolved  out  of 
seeming  chaos  and  the  memorial  finally  completed 
and  signed,  Field  shot  out  of  the  door  and  rushed 
over  to  Stanton's  room,  waving  the  document  as 
if  it  were  a  danger-signal,  leaving  me  alone  and  in 
a  semi-collapse.  Drawing  long  breaths  of  relief 
at  the  removal  of  the  tension,  I  returned  to  my 
regular  cipher-work,  resolved  never  again  to  act 
as  an  amanuensis  for  Cyrus  W.  Field. 

Probably  because  of  the  large  expense  involved 
and  the  fact  that  up  to  that  time  no  very  long 
cables  had  been  successfully  laid,  and  also  be 
cause  of  the  difficulty  of  maintenance  in  working 
order  free  from  injury  by  Confederate  blockade- 
runners,  Lincoln's  cherished  plan  of  a  coast  cable 
from  Fort  Monroe  to  New  Orleans,  was  not 
adopted.  Had  we  then  known  what  we  do  now 

258 


CABLES  AND  SIGNALS 

about  cables,  their  construction,  maintenance, 
protection,  and  operation,  without  doubt  Field's 
plan,  which  in  its  essentials  was  entirely  feasible, 
would  have  been  accepted  and  Lincoln's  recom 
mendation  acted  upon  by  Congress,  and  the  war 
brought  to  a  close  much  sooner.  In  this  case  Lin 
coln's  "far  sight,"  as  in  other  important  matters, 
is  now  seen  to  have  been  prophetic  and  his  broad 
views  were  further  in  advance  of  and  more  com 
prehensive  than  those  of  others  of  his  time. 

It  is  not  generally  known  that  early  in  1862 
the  War  Department  purchased  about  fifty 
miles  of  the  abandoned  Atlantic  cable  of  1858. 
A  section  of  this  cable  was  laid  by  the  Military 
Telegraph  Corps  across  Chesapeake  Bay  from 
Cape  Charles  to  Fort  Monroe,  the  work  being 
finished  and  the  cable  connected  up  the  first 
week  in  March  of  that  year.  It  failed  a  few 
days  before  the  Confederate  ram  Merrimac  at 
tacked  our  fleet,  sinking  the  Cumberland,  burn 
ing  the  Congress,  and  running  the  Minnesota 
aground  in  Hampton  Roads.  The  cable  was  re 
paired,  however,  and  General  Wool's  telegram 
of  March  8,  to  the  Secretary  of  War  stating  that 
Ericsson's  iron-clad — Monitor — had  arrived  and 
would  proceed  to  take  care  of  the  Merrimac  the 

16  259 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

next  day,  was  sent  over  it  and  reached  Washing 
ton  on  March  9,  the  day  of  the  fight  between  the 
Monitor  and  the  Merrimac. 

This  cable — about  twenty  miles  in  length — is 
believed  to  have  been  the  longest  submarine  cable 
successfully  laid  in  this  country  up  to  that  time. 
It  was  interrupted  frequently,  either  because  of 
faulty  construction,  or  from  being  caught  by 
dragging  anchors. 

In  August,  1864,  an  additional  section  was 
laid  in  the  James  River  between  Jamestown 
Island,  near  Norfolk,  and  Fort  Powhatan,  below 
City  Point,  because  the  land  line  between  those 
points,  on  the  south  side  of  the  river,  had  been 
broken  by  the  enemy  several  times,  and  the  topog 
raphy  of  the  country  was  such  that  it  could  not 
be  sufficiently  well  guarded. 

As  a  matter  of  collateral  interest  it  may  here 
be  noted  that  Cyrus  W.  Field  obtained  from  the 
legislature  of  Newfoundland  on  March  10,  1854, 
an  exclusive  grant  for  fifty  years  for  the  estab 
lishment  of  a  line  of  telegraph  from  the  conti 
nent  of  America  to  Newfoundland  and  thence 
to  Europe.  The  first  cable  was  laid  in  1857,  but 
it  did  not  work  successfully.  He  made  two  at 
tempts  in  1858,  the  first  of  which  was  a  failure. 
The  third  cable  was  laid  the  same  year,  and  for 

260 


CABLES  AND  SIGNALS 

a  short  time  signals  were  exchanged  slowly. 
Congratulatory  messages  between  Queen  Vic 
toria  and  President  Buchanan  were  sent,  each 
message  occupying  in  transmission  over  an  hour. 
This  third  cable  failed,  however,  after  732  mes 
sages  had  been  successfully  transmitted  over  it. 
In  1866  the  fourth,  and  finally  successful,  at 
tempt  was  made  to  lay  an  ocean  cable,  and  on 
July  27  of  that  year  it  was  opened  for  public 
business.  It  is  believed  that  since  that  date  cable 
communication  between  Europe  and  America 
has  never  been  entirely  interrupted.  There  are 
now  sixteen  transatlantic  cables,  all  duplexed: 
nine  to  Ireland  direct,  one  to  Ireland  via  the 
Azores,  two  to  England,  two  to  France,  and  two 
to  Germany  via  the  Azores.  The  ocean  cable 
mileage  of  the  world  at  the  close  of  1906  has 
been  given  as  251,132  miles. 

Fifty  years  ago  one  of  the  quack  remedies  in 
vogue,  extensively  advertised,  was  "Swaim's  Pan 
acea,"  the  headquarters  of  which  were  in  Philadel 
phia.  The  proprietor — James  Swaim — was  a 
character  in  his  way.  In  his  early  days  he  was  in 
the  naval  service,  and  became  familiar  with  the 
somewhat  crude  methods  of  signaling  by  means 
of  flags  and  lanterns.  Swaim  appeared  in 
Washington  in  November,  1862,  with  his  newly 

261 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

invented  signal  system,  which  was  turned  over 
to  Tinker  and  myself  for  trial.  The  plan  in 
cluded  a  code-book  of  several  thousand  words 
and  phrases,  each  represented  by  a  combination 
of  numerals,  usually  four.  There  were  six  sepa 
rate  signals  which  were  transmitted  thus:  Num 
ber  1,  by  the  flag  or  torch  being  held  aloft  to 
the  right  of  the  operator  or  suspended  from  a 
pole  or  standard;  Number  2,  straight  out  to  the 
right;  Number  3,  to  the  right  in  a  downward 
direction;  Numbers  4-5-6  were  represented  by 
similar  movements  or  positions  to  the  left.  Two 
numerals  were  needed  for  each  letter  of  the  alpha 
bet,  thus : 


A 

G 

M 

S 

Y 

5 

11 

21 

31 

41 

51 

61 

B 

H 

N 

T 

Z 

6 

12 

22 

32 

42 

52 

62 

C 

I 

O 

U 

1 

7 

13 

23 

33 

43 

53 

63 

D 

J 

P 

V 

2 

8 

14 

24 

34 

44 

54 

64 

E 

K 

Q 

W 

3 

9 

15 

25 

35 

45 

55 

65 

F 

L 

R 

X 

4 

0 

16 

26 

36 

46 

56 

66 

262 

CABLES  AND  SIGNALS 

For  the  next  twenty-four  hours  Tinker  and  I 
devoted  all  our  spare  moments  to  the  task  of 
learning  this  code  of  signals. 

Swaim  at  the  outset  suggested  a  novel  plan  by 
means  of  which  he  said  any  one  could  quickly 
learn  his  alphabet.  By  referring  to  the  fore 
going  table,  it  will  be  observed  that  the  letters 
A,  G,  M,  S,  and  Y  stand  at  the  top  of  the  re 
spective  columns.  Now,  quoting  Swaim's  words, 
"The  first  question  one  asks  when  the  new  system 
is  proposed  is,  'Who  is  the  inventor?'  The  an 
swer  is  given  by  repeating  rapidly  the  four  letters 
A  G  M  S,  so  as  to  make  them  sound  like  CA 
Jeems,'  "  Swaim's  Christian  name  being  James. 
Then,  having  that  fact  in  mind,  one  is  immedi 
ately  led  to  ask  "Y"  (Why?)  ;  so  there  you  have 
the  key  to  the  entire  alphabet,  and  by  following 
down  the  several  columns  in  order,  he  said,  the 
whole  picture  is  before  you,  and  each  letter  can 
be  readily  classed  with  its  corresponding  pair  of 
numerals. 

To  tell  the  truth  this  curious  method  did  really 
help  to  fasten  in  our  minds  the  several  features 
of  Swaim's  code,  and  on  the  morning  of  Novem 
ber  14  we  went  over  to  the  White  House  grounds 
and  practised  for  an  hour,  the  President  stopping 

263 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

on  his  way  to  the  War  Department  to  observe  our 
strange  antics.  On  the  third  day — November  15 
-Tinker  and  I  went  to  the  roof  of  the  Soldiers 
Home  and  Swaim  and  Stager  to  the  Smithsonian 
Institute,  about  four  miles  distant,  and  we  ex 
changed  signals  for  two  hours,  using  palm-leaf 
fans  covered  with  black  muslin  in  lieu  of  flags. 
The  wind  was  blowing  so  strongly  that  we  found 
it  difficult  to  move  the  fans  properly  and  one  of 
the  messages  sent  by  Tinker  was  "It  is  windy." 
Stager  received  this  all  right  and  signaled  back 
to  us,  "Take  peppermint."  Notwithstanding 
our  successful  experiments,  the  Government  did 
not  adopt  Swaim's  code. 

Two  years  later  some  one  proposed  that  we 
should  make  a  test  of  signaling  at  night  by 
means  of  a  calcium  light,  which  could  be  dis 
played  and  screened  at  will  by  the  use  of  a  but 
ton,  operated  by  hand,  in  the  same  manner  as 
a  telegraph-key  is  manipulated;  the  alternate 
flashes  of  light,  long  or  short,  representing  the 
dashes  and  dots  of  the  Morse  alphabet. 

At  that  time  Lincoln,  with  his  family,  lived  in 
one  of  the  cottages  at  the  Soldiers  Home,  and  so 
it  was  arranged  that  there  should  be  an  exhibition 
(for  his  special  benefit)  of  Morse  signaling  to 

264 


CABLES  AND  SIGNALS 

and  from  the  Smithsonian,  and  on  the  evening 
of  August  24,  1864,  Major  Eckert  and  I 
went  to  the  Soldiers  Home  with  suitable  in 
struments,  our  comrades,  Chandler  and  D  wight, 
having  gone  to  the  Smithsonian  Institute,  with 
a  similar  equipment.  My  diary  records  that 
there  were  present  on  the  tower  of  the  Soldiers 
Home,  besides  the  operators  the  President,  Rear- 
Admiral  Davis  of  the  Navy  Department,  Colonel 
Nicodemus  of  the  Signal  Corps  and  Colonel 
Dimmick  of  the  army.  We  were  able  to  send 
Morse  signals  to  the  roof  of  the  Smithsonian  and 
receive  responses  from  Chandler  and  Dwight. 
Professor  Joseph  Henry  was  present  and  wit 
nessed  our  experiments.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  greatly 
interested  in  this  exhibition  and  expressed  the 
opinion  that  the  signal  system  of  both  the  army 
and  navy  could  and  would  be  improved  so  as  to 
become  of  immense  value  to  the  Government. 
This  has,  in  fact  been  done,  and  our  efforts 
of  over  forty  years  ago  now  appear  rudimen 
tary. 

Comrade  H.  H.  At  water  was  stationed  at 
the  Washington  Navy  Yard  much  of  the  time 
during  the  war,  and  has  given  the  following  ac 
count  of  a  visit  which  Lincoln  made  on  one  occa- 

265 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

sion  when  experiments  were  being  made  with 
rocket  signals : 

One  evening  a  party  of  six  or  eight,  including  Mr.  Lin 
coln,  came  to  the  Navy  Yard  and  proceeded  to  the  bulkhead, 
where  they  had  arranged  to  demonstrate  the  workings  of 
certain  signalling  rockets,  several  of  which  were  sent  up 
with  good  results.  When  the  last  one  was  tried  each  one  in 
the  party  watched  it  as  it  soared  aloft,  leaving  its  streams  of 
fire  trailing  behind,  but  when  half-way  up  it  exploded  pre 
maturely  and  fell  to  the  water  a  miserable  failure.  "Well," 
remarked  Lincoln,  "small  potatoes  and  few  in  a  hill."  I 
had  never  heard  the  expression  before  and  it  fastened  itself 
in  my  mind. 

Two  weeks  after  the  assassination  Atwater  saw 
Booth's  body  when  it  arrived  from  the  lower 
Potomac  and  was  transferred  to  a  monitor,  at  the 
same  pier  where  not  very  long  before  Lincoln 
had  witnessed  the  experiments  with  signal 
rockets. 


266 


XX 


LINCOLN'S  FOREBODINGS  OF  DEFEAT  AT  THE  POLLS 


ON  June  8,  1864,  the  Republican  convention 
at  Baltimore  unanimously  renominated 
Lincoln  for  President.  Horace  White,  who  had 
formerly  been  employed  as  a  clerk  in  Secretary 
Stanton's  office,  was  then  engaged  in  newspaper 
work,  and  was  in  the  convention,  seated  next  to 
the  operator  who  was  working  the  wire  leading 
to  the  War  Department.  White  sent  the  first 
congratulatory  message  to  Lincoln,  and  shortly 
afterward  telegraphed  that  Andrew  Johnson  of 
Tennessee  had  been  nominated  for  Vice-Presi- 
dent.  Lincoln's  private  secretary,  Nicolay,  had 
also  meantime  telegraphed  the  news,  and  when 
the  President  reached  the  telegraph  office,  my 
colleague,  Mr.  Tinker,  offered  his  congratula 
tions,  but  Lincoln  said  he  had  not  yet  seen  the 
message  announcing  his  renomination.  When 
the  copy  was  shown  him  he  said:  "Send  it  right 
over  to  the  Madam.  She  will  be  more  interested 

267 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

than  I  am."  When  the  announcement  of  John 
son's  nomination  was  handed  to  the  President,  he 
looked  at  the  telegram  a  moment  and  then  said, 
"Well,  I  thought  possibly  he  might  be  the  man; 
perhaps  he  is  the  best  man,  but—  '  and  rising 
from  his  chair  he  walked  out  of  the  room.  Mr. 
Tinker  has  always  contended  from  this  incident 
that  Lincoln  preferred  that  Hannibal  Hamlin 
should  have  been  placed  on  the  ticket  a  second 
time,  and  expected  that  he  would  be. 

In  these  peaceful  days,  more  than  forty  years 
after  the  close  of  the  Civil  War,  when  we  read 
of  the  fraternization  of  the  Blue  and  the  Gray  at 
army  reunions,  South  and  North,  and  of  Republi 
can  Presidents  being  enthusiastically  welcomed  by 
the  people  of  the  South,  it  is  somewhat  difficult 
to  recall  clearly  the  troublous  times  of  1864,  that 
most  critical  and  momentous  year  of  the  war,  and 
harder  still  to  realize  that  there  was  so  much  of 
doubt  in  the  minds  of  the  Northern  people,  and 
even  of  our  chosen  leaders,  as  to  the  ultimate  out 
come  of  the  struggle.  Our  great  war  President 
himself,  whose  heroic  faith  voiced  itself  so  often  in 

1  My  comrade,  Mr.  Chandler,  says  that  Lincoln  made  exactly  the 
same  remark  on  the  night  of  November  8,  when  the  news  that  came 
over  the  wires  was  such  as  to  make  it  certain  that  Lincoln  had  been 
reflected. 

268 


FOREBODINGS  OF  DEFEAT 

his  public  utterances,  was  in  his  heart  more  or  less 
of  a  doubter  at  critical  times,  as  the  writer  can 
bear  certain  witness.  He  seemed  to  recognize 
more  clearly  than  some  of  his  advisers  the  great 
anti-war  feeling  in  the  North  and  the  underlying 
forces  back  of  it,  and  the  weight  of  this  subtle 
and  malign  influence. 

I  consider  1864  the  most  critical  and  mo 
mentous  year  of  the  war  from  a  military  point  of 
view,  although  in  that  year  we  had  no  Bull  Run 
defeat  as  in  1861,  nor  Chickahominy  disaster  as 
in  1862,  nor  Gettysburg  nor  Vicksburg  victories 
as  in  1863.  The  year  was  remarkable  also  in 
political  movements.  The  sorehead  convention 
at  Cleveland  in  May  had  nominated  Fremont 
and  Cochrane,  both  from  New  York,  unmindful 
of  the  Constitutional  provision  against  taking 
both  the  President  and  the  Vice-President  from 
the  same  State.  At  that  nondescript  gathering 
a  letter  from  Wendell  Phillips,  the  abolitionist 
leader,  was  read  in  which  he  said: 

The  administration  therefore  I  regard  as  a  civil  and 
military  failure  and  its  avowed  policy  ruinous  to  the  North 
in  every  point  of  view.  If  Mr.  Lincoln  is  reflected,  I  do 
not  expect  to  see  the  Union  reconstructed  in  my  day  unless 
on  terms  more  disastrous  to  liberty  than  even  disunion 
would  be. 

269 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

"The  New  York  Herald"  of  May  31,  1864, 
commenting  on  the  probable  nomination  of  Mc- 
Clellan  by  the  Democratic  convention  soon  to 
meet,  said  editorially:  "As  for  Lincoln,  we  do  not 
think  it  possible  that  he  can  be  reflected  after  his 
remarkable  blunders  the  past  three  or  four 
years."  Leonard  Swett  of  Illinois,  one  of  Lin 
coln's  closest  friends,  wrote  to  his  wife  three 
months  before  the  election:  "Unless  material 
changes  can  be  wrought  Lincoln's  election  is  be 
yond  any  possible  hope.  It  is  probably  clean 
gone  now."1 

The  regular  Democratic  convention  at  Chi 
cago,  with  Seymour  as  its  chairman  and  Val- 
landigham,  lately  returned  from  enforced  exile 
in  the  Confederacy,  as  chairman  of  the  Com 
mittee  on  Resolutions,  had  nominated  McClellan 
and  Pendleton.  General  Grant  made  this  refer 
ence  to  these  nominations:  "Their  only  hope  (the 
South)  is  a  divided  North  and  the  election  of  a 
peace  candidate." 

My  friend,  Mr.  Edward  A.  Hall,  has  recently 
told  me  the  following  incident :  He  was  in  Abram 
S.  Hewitt's  office  shortly  before  the  election, 
when  McClellan's  chances  were  discussed,  Ed- 

iSee  Tarbell's  "Lincoln,"  Vol.  3,  p.  200. 

270 


FOREBODINGS  OF  DEFEAT 

ward  Cooper  and  Wm.  H.  Osborn  being  pres 
ent.  Both  Hewitt  and  Cooper  expressed  the 
opinion  that  McClellan  would  win,  as  McClellan 
had  told  them  only  a  day  or  two  before  that  he 
was  sure  of  his  election,  and  that  he  would  resign 
his  commission  in  the  army  on  November  1.  Os 
born  had  formerly  been  president  of  the  Illinois 
Central  Railroad  and  at  that  time  was  chairman 
of  its  board  of  directors.  In  that  connection  he 
had  known  both  Lincoln  and  McClellan,  Lincoln 
having  been  employed  by  the  road  at  various 
times  in  a  legal  capacity,  and  McClellan  having 
held  the  position  of  chief  engineer.  Osborn, 
blunt  spoken,  as  always,  after  hearing  Hewitt 
and  Cooper  express  their  opinion,  said,  "No,  Lin 
coln  will  beat  McClellan,  for  he  has  the  courage 
of  his  convictions  and  does  things,  but  McClellan, 
while  able  and  great  in  preparation,  lacks  con 
fidence  in  himself  at  critical  times.  Even  if 
elected,  he  would  be  a  failure  in  the  responsible 
position  of  President.  He  could,  and  did,  build 
the  best  and  strongest  bridges  on  our  road,  but  I 
always  noticed  that  at  the  finish  he  hesitated  to 
give  the  order  to  send  over  the  first  train." 

George  Francis  Train,  in  one  of  his  erratic  and 
sparkling  effusions  in  the  form  of  an  open  letter 

271 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

to  General  McClellan  in  October,  1864,  calls  him 
the  peace  candidate  on  a  war  platform,  adding 
that  "as  you  are  a  railway  man,  General,  you 
know  that  it  is  dangerous  to  stand  on  the  plat 
form." 

As  one  straw  showing  how  the  wind  of  opinion 
then  veered  toward  McClellan,  it  is  noted  that 
only  two  days  before  Lincoln  recorded  his  re 
markable  estimate,  hereinafter  given,  the  soldiers 
and  attendants  at  Carver  Hospital,  Washington, 
in  a  State  election,  had  cast  an  unusually  large 
vote — one  in  three — against  the  Administration. 
This  otherwise  trivial  incident  must  have  exerted 
a  special  influence  on  Lincoln,  in  view  of  the  fact 
that  he  had  frequently  visited  that  hospital  and 
mingled  with  its  occupants.  Nor  must  we  forget 
that  the  exponents  of  peace-at-any-price  were 
still  firing  their  sputtering  squibs  at  Lincoln, 
which  irritated  although  they  probably  did  not 
much  hurt. 

The  general  effect  of  these  eccentric  peace 
movements,  however,  was  to  foster  among  certain 
classes  in  the  North  a  feeling  of  unrest  and  of 
dissatisfaction  with  the  conduct  of  the  war.  Such 
persons  no  doubt  believed  they  were  patriots,  but 
they  had  no  backbone,  and  events  not  turning 

272 


FOREBODINGS  OF  DEFEAT 

out  as  they  wished,  they  were  too  ready  to  cast 
blame  upon  the  Administration, — on  the  one 
hand  upon  Stanton,  the  Bismarck  of  our  Civil 
War,  who  was  the  personification  of  zeal  and  im 
placable  fury  in  his  treatment  of  his  country's 
enemies,  whether  North  or  South,  and  on  the 
other  hand,  without  logic  or  reason,  upon  Lin 
coln,  .who  had  "malice  toward  none;  with  charity 
for  all,"  but  who  also  had  "firmness  to  do  the 
right,"  no  matter  if  his  best  friends  and  legal 
advisers  were  against  him. 

Lincoln,  silent  under  the  stings  of  criticism, 
but  with  sublime  faith  in  the  final  success  of 
the  cause  of  liberty,  of  which  he  was  the  great 
exponent,  appears  in  1864,  as  we  now  see  him  in 
his  environment,  to  have  become  imbued  with  the 
idea  that  perhaps,  after  all,  the  people  of  the 
North  would  declare  themselves  at  the  polls  in 
November  as  being  willing  to  end  the  war 
by  putting  McClellan  in  the  presidential  chair 
and  thus  pave  the  way  for  an  amendment  to  the 
Constitution  which  would  permit  the  Southern 
States  to  withdraw  peacefully  from  the  Union 
and  set  up  a  separate  government,  with  negro 
slavery  as  its  corner-stone.  Lincoln,  with  his  lofty 
ideas  of  eternal  right  and  justice  between  man 

273 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

and  man,  whether  white,  black,  red  or  yellow, 
had,  it  seemed,  almost  lost  heart  and  his  long- 
tried  patience  was  nearly  exhausted.  He  was, 
indeed,  almost  at  the  parting  of  the  ways  as  he 
saw  so  many  of  his  own  political  party  and  for 
mer  supporters  wavering  or  actually  deserting 
the  colors  and  opposing  the  Government  in  the 
very  matters  which  to  him  were  vital.  They  had 
turned  back  from  their  march  up  freedom's 
heights,  the  topmost  peaks  of  which  he  had  al 
ready  scaled,  and  from  which  only,  as  he  believed, 
could  be  had  clear  visions  of  the  controlling  ques 
tions  of  his  day  and  generation.  To  him  those 
visions  and  what  they  meant  to  his  country  were 
sublime  verities,  as  indeed  they  later  came  to  be 
to  most  or  all  of  his  countrymen. 

Senator  John  T.  Morgan  of  Alabama  said 
in  1895:  "The  character  of  Lincoln  is  not  yet 
known  to  this  generation  as  it  will  be  to  those 
who  shall  live  in  later  centuries.  They  will  see, 
as  we  cannot  yet  perceive,  the  full  maturity  of  his 
wisdom,  in  its  actual  effects  upon  the  destinies  of 
two  great  races  of  men." 

But  at  this  time— October,  1864— with  the 
waves  of  civil  war  beating  upon  him,  with  the 
snarling  tones  of  his  political  enemies  sounding  in 

274 


FOREBODINGS  OF  DEFEAT 

his  ears,  with  the  nagging  of  those  who  professed 
to  be  his  friends,  but  who  criticized  his  words  and 
actions  from  their  lowly  habitat  in  the  slough  of 
despond,  with  such  meager  disappointing  results 
from  the  Emancipation  Proclamation,  the  gen 
eral  features  of  which  had  been  announced  two 
years  before,  it  is  perhaps  not  to  be  wondered  at 
that  Lincoln  feared  defeat  in  the  approaching 
Xovember  election.1 

In  his  great  anxiety  Lincoln  had  sent  John 
Hay,  one  of  his  secretaries,  on  a  special  mission 
to  Hilton  Head,  South  Carolina,  with  instruc 
tions  to  the  commanding  general,  to  cooperate 
in  certain  measures  intended  to  aid  in  bring 
ing  Florida  back  into  the  Union,  on  the 
lines  of  his  Reconstruction  Proclamation  of  De 
cember  8,  1863,  the  program  being  to  extend  the 
Union  lines  as  far  as  possible  into  that  State  and 
induce  the  loyal  citizens  to  set  up  a  reorganized 

1  On  p.  568,  Vol.  II,  of  Lincoln's  "Complete  Works"  appears  this : 

Memorandum 
Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  D.  C.,  August  23,  1864. 

This  morning,  as  for  some  days  past,  it  seems  exceedingly  proba 
ble  that  this  administration  will  not  be  re-elected.  Then  it  will  be 
my  duty  to  so  cooperate  with  the  President-elect  as  to  save  the 
Union  between  the  election  and  the  inauguration;  as  he  will  have 
secured  his  election  on  such  ground  that  he  cannot  save  it  after 
ward-  A.  LINCOLN. 

See,  also,  Nicolay  and  Hay's  "Lincoln,"  Vol.  IX,  p.  251. 

17  275 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

State  government  to  give  its  three  electoral  votes 
for  the  Administration  at  the  November  election. 
This  plan,  if  under  more  fortunate  conditions  it 
could  have  succeeded,  was  rendered  futile  by  the 
wholly  unexpected  defeat  of  General  Truman 
Seymour  at  the  battle  of  Olustee. 

John  G.  Nicolay,  his  first  secretary,  was  de 
spatched  to  Missouri  with  a  view  to  overcoming 
factional  troubles  in  that  State,  kept  alive  by 
political  leaders  of  strong  contrary  types,  and 
thus  to  secure  if  possible  her  eleven  electoral 
votes,  which  in  Lincoln's  estimate,  as  we  shall  see, 
were  conceded  to  McClellan,  but  which  were 
actually  cast  for  Lincoln. 

In  October,  Maryland  had  voted  upon  her  new 
constitution,  the  chief  feature  of  which  was  the 
final  extinction  of  slavery;  and  out  of  a  total  of 
60,000  votes  the  majority  in  favor  of  the  new  law 
was  a  bare  375,  and  that  result  had  been  carried 
to  the  Court  of  Appeals  on  the  theory  that  the 
vote  of  the  soldiers  in  the  field  could  not  legally 
be  counted. 

The  Pennsylvania,  Ohio  and  other  State  elec 
tions  took  place  on  October  11,  only  two  days 
before  the  incident  described  below.  On  that 
evening  Lincoln  stayed  in  the  telegraph  office 

276 


FOREBODINGS  OF  DEFEAT 

until  after  midnight  for  the  purpose  of  receiving 
promptly  the  results  of  the  elections — his  last 
message  being  as  follows : 

Washington,  Oct.   11,  1864. 
GENERAL  SIMON  CAMERON,  Philadelphia: 

Am  leaving  office  to  go  home.     How  does  it  stand  now? 

A.  LINCOLN. 

Cameron's  reply  was  hopeful  but  not  conclusive. 
The  following  day  Grant  telegraphed  to  the  War 
Department  for  news  of  the  Pennsylvania  elec 
tion.  Lincoln  being  in  the  telegraph  office  when 
the  despatch  was  received,  answered  it  thus : 

October  12,  1864. 
LIEUT.  GENL.  GRANT,  City  Point,  Va. : 

Pennsylvania  very  close  and  still  in  doubt  on  home  vote. 

A.  LINCOLN. 

Such  in  general  were  the  conditions  through 
out  the  country  as  they  appeared  to  Lincoln 
when,  on  the  evening  of  October  13,  1864,  he 
made  his  regular  visit  to  the  War  Department 
telegraph  office,  which  for  over  three  anxious 
years  had  been  his  safe  retreat  and  lounging- 
place,  and  where  he  had  so  often  calculated  the 
wavering  chances  of  war  and  peace.  Major 
Eckert  and  the  cipher-operators  were  all  there, 
and  we  could  not  fail  to  notice  that  the  President 

277 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

looked  unusually  weary  and  depressed  as  he  sat 
down  to  scan  the  political  field  and  consider  the 
probabilities  of  his  reelection,  three  weeks  later. 

After  the  results  of  the  State  elections  two 
days  before  had  been  fully  discussed,  the  conver 
sation  begun  by  him  turned  to  the  Presidential 
election,  and  he  expressed  himself  as  not  being  at 
all  sure  of  reelection.  He  referred  to  special  con 
ditions  in  some  of  the  States  as  affording  ground 
for  the  fear  that  McClellan  might  slip  through. 
In  fact  his  cautious  spirit  led  him  to  underrate 
his  own  strength,  and  to  exaggerate  McClellan's 
chances,  and  after  pondering  the  matter  a  short 
while,  he  reached  for  a  cipher  telegraph-blank 
and  wrote  his  own  careful  estimate  of  the  electoral 
vote  as  shown  by  the  facsimile  published  for  the 
first  time  in  "The  Century  Magazine"  for  Au 
gust,  1907. 

He  entered  in  one  column  the  names  of  the 
eight  States  which  he  conceded  to  McClellan, 
giving  him  114  electoral  votes.  In  a  second 
column  he  entered  the  names  of  the  States  which 
he  felt  sure  would  cast  117  votes  for  the  Admin 
istration.  This  total  showed  only  three  more 
votes  than  he  allowed  McClellan.  He  did  this 
from  memory,  making  no  mistake  in  the  number 

278 


DEPARTMENT, 


V  /  .? 
I    -  •• ") 


L,£*- 


Copyright,  1907,  by  Thomas  T.  Eckert 

Facsimile  of  Lincoln's  autographic  estimate  of  the  electoral 
vote  of  1864 

The  original  autograph,  now  owned  by  the  author  of  this  volume,  was  written 
by  Lincoln  in  the  War  Department  telegraph  office,  October  13,  1864,  three  weeks 
before  the  election,  and  was  printed  for  the  first  time  in  "The  Century  Maga 
zine"  for  August,  1907.  The  headings :  ''Supposed  Copperhead  Vote  "  and 
"Union  Vote  for  President,"  as  well  as  the  addition  of  '"Nevada,"  with  "3" 
votes,  and  the  corrected  total  '  1-20  "  are  in  the  handwriting  of  Major  Eckert. 


FOREBODINGS  OF  DEFEAT 

of  electoral  votes  to  which  each  State  was  enti 
tled,  excepting  that  he  omitted  Nevada,  which 
was  about  to  come  into  the  Union,  and  her  three 
votes  were  added  in  Eckert's  handwriting.  (The 
President's  proclamation  admitting  Nevada  is 
dated  October  31,  1864.) 

It  is  hard  to  believe  to-day  that  Lincoln  al 
lowed  himself  in  his  calculations  so  narrow  a  mar 
gin  as  three  votes  out  of  231,  but  the  proof  is 
absolute. 

The  actual  result  of  the  election  was  of  course 
very  different  from  Lincoln's  figures.  McClel- 
lan  received  only  twenty-one  votes,  two  of  the 
three  States,  Delaware  and  Kentucky,  being 
original  slave  States,  the  other  being  New  Jer 
sey.  Lincoln  received  212  votes  instead  of  his 
estimate  of  117.  One  Nevada  vote  was  not 
counted  owing  to  a  technicality.  In  1860  he  had 
received  180  votes. 

Those  who  are  familiar  with  Lincoln's  written 
papers  will  not  be  surprised  at  the  neatness  of  this 
memorandum  in  his  own  handwriting,  which 
shows  no  erasure  or  blot,  every  word  being  legi 
ble,  although  in  the  lapse  of  time  some  of  his 
pencil-marks  have  become  somewhat  blurred  and 
indistinct.  It  was  his  custom  when  writing  a 

281 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

note  or  making  a  memorandum,  as  the  cipher- 
operators  had  observed,  to  take  his  pen  or  pencil 
in  hand,  smooth  out  the  sheet  of  paper  carefully 
and  write  slowly  and  deliberately,  stopping  at 
times  in  thoughtful  mood  to  look  out  of  the  win 
dow  for  a  moment  or  two,  and  then  resuming  his 
writing.  In  this  respect  he  was  wholly  different 
from  Stanton,  whose  drafts  or  letters  and  memo 
randa  were  jotted  down  at  a  terrific  pace,  with 
many  erasures  and  interlineations. 

I  still  have  in  my  possession  the  original  draft 
(partly  in  my  handwriting)  of  Stanton's  General 
Orders  to  the  army,  dated  April  16,  1865,  an 
nouncing  the  death  of  the  President,  which  is  so 
full  of  corrections  in  his  own  bold  hand  as  to  be 
almost  unreadable;  but  all  of  Mr.  Lincoln's 
papers,  written  by  himself,  were  models  of  neat 
ness  and  accuracy. 

It  is  of  more  than  passing  interest  to  note  that 
on  the  very  day  on  which  Lincoln  was  setting 
down  his  conservative  estimate  of  the  political 
situation  and  of  the  trend  of  Northern  opinion 
adverse  to  his  administration,  Jacob  Thompson, 
the  Confederate  agent  in  Canada,  wrote  to  Jef 
ferson  Davis  that  in  his  opinion  "the  reelection 
of  Lincoln  is  almost  certain."  Thompson's  letter 

282 


FOREBODINGS  OF  DEFEAT 

in  cipher,  dated  Clifton,  Canada,  October  13, 
1864,  reached  the  War  Department  at  the  hands 
of  Thompson's  messenger  (who  was  also  in  our 
secret  service),  on  Sunday,  October  16,  and  was 
translated  by  the  cipher-operators.1 

Lincoln's  fears  proved  to  have  been  unfounded, 
and  were  no  doubt  the  result  of  peculiar  circum 
stances  and  conditions  operating  upon  an  anxious 
mind  normally  disposed  to  introspection.  Let 
us,  if  we  can,  imagine  his  thoughts  at  this  time 
of  sore  depression.  We  may  suppose  that  his 
mind  reverted  to  Valley  Forge  at  that  critical 
period  of  the  Revolution,  in  February,  1778, 
when  news  came  of  the  alliance  between  France 
and  the  United  States  which  had  been  secured 
through  the  influence  of  Franklin,  the  patriot 
and  philosopher.2 

1See  chapter  Vand  also  General  Eckert's  testimony  in  "The  Trial 
of  the  Conspirators,"  compiled  by  Pitman,  page  42. 

2  John  Hay,  in  his  essay  on  "Franklin  in  France,"  says  of  the 
reception  of  that  treaty: 

"It  was  the  sunburst  to  the  colonies  after  a  troubled  dawn.  The 
tattered  and  frost-bitten  soldiers  of  Valley  Forge  were  paraded 
to  receive  the  joyful  news,  .  .  .  and  shouted,  'Long  live  the  King 
of  France !'  Washington  issued  a  general  order  saying  'It  had 
pleased  the  Almighty  Ruler  of  the  universe  propitiously  to  defend 
the  cause  of  the  United  American  States,  and  by  finally  raising  up 
a  powerful  friend  among  the  nations  of  the  earth  to  establish  our 
liberty  and  independence  upon  a  lasting  foundation.'  This  act  of 
France  gave  us  a  standing  abroad  which  we  had  hitherto  lacked." 
—"The  Century"  for  January,  1906. 

283 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

Now,  in  1864,  at  what  probably  seemed  to  Lin 
coln  the  crucial  hour  of  our  Republic,  he  no  doubt 
reflected  upon  the  ambitious  efforts  of  Napoleon 
III  to  set  up  a  monarchy  upon  our  southwestern 
borders  by  means  of  French  bayonets,  in  contrast 
with  the  generous  act  of  Louis  XVI,  nearly 
eighty  years  before,  in  signing  a  "treaty  of  uni 
versal  peace  and  true  friendship,"  which  should 
bind  his  heirs  and  successors. 

Without  doubt  Lincoln  also  dwelt  seriously 
upon  the  awful  sacrifice  of  human  life  in  the  con 
duct  of  the  war,  and  particularly  upon  Grant's 
sanguinary  struggle  in  the  Wilderness  and  on  the 
James,  with  Richmond  still  defiant;  and  he  may 
well  have  wondered  whether  the  people  of  the 
North  were  not  weary  of  the  deluge  of  blood, 
with  no  stoppage  of  the  flow  in  sight.  David  R. 
Locke  (Petroleum  V.  Nasby)  in  his  "Reminis 
cences"  says  of  Lincoln  in  1864: 

He  was  as  tender  hearted  as  a  girl.  He  asked  me  if  the 
masses  of  the  people  of  Ohio  held  him  in  any  way  respon 
sible  for  the  loss  of  their  friends  in  the  Army. 

Lincoln  doubtless  thought  of  the  desertion  of 
his  standard  by  some  of  his  own  former  support 
ers,  and  of  the  lukewarmness  of  others;  of  the 

284 


FOREBODINGS  OF  DEFEAT 

many  unjust  criticisms  of  his  policy  in  the  news 
papers,  and  of  their  slurs  and  falsehoods  which  he 
was  powerless  to  answer  or  combat.  Truly,  like 
the  Saviour,  he  had  "endured  the  contradiction  of 
sinners."  And  we  must  remember  also  that  Lin 
coln  was  possessed  of  a  natural  melancholy,  a 
morbid  tendency  to  take  undue  blame  upon  him 
self  when  subjected  to  criticism.  All  things  then 
being  considered,  it  is  perhaps  not  so  very  strange 
that  on  that  evening  of  October  13,  1864,  in  his 
accustomed  seat  at  Major  Eckert's  desk,  he 
should  have  been  ready  to  give  up  the  ship  if  God 
so  willed  it.  But  God  did  not  so  will  it,  for  on 
the  night  of  November  8,  he  received  the  welcome 
news  of  his  reelection  while  in  the  War  Depart 
ment  telegraph  office,  where  only  three  weeks  be 
fore  he  had  been  almost  ready  to  concede  McClel- 
lan's  election.  He  was  not  unduly  elated  at  the 
glad  result,  but  serene  and  dignified,  and  was  still 
mindful  of  the  feelings  of  others,  as  is  shown  by 
the  closing  part  of  his  speech  to  the  assembled 
multitude  on  that  most  eventful  occasion,  so  often 
quoted,  but  well  worth  repeating  in  this  connec 
tion: 

So  long  as  I  have  been  here  I  have  not  willingly  planted 
a  thorn  in  any  man's  bosom.     While  I  am  deeply  sensible 

285 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

to  the  high  compliment  of  a  reelection,  and  duly  grateful,  as 
I  trust,  to  almighty  God  for  having  directed  my  country 
men  to  a  right  conclusion,  as  I  think,  for  their  own  good,  it 
adds  nothing  to  my  satisfaction  that  any  other  man  may 
be  disappointed  or  pained  by  the  result.  May  I  ask  those 
who  have  not  differed  with  me  to  join  with  me  in  this  same 
spirit  towards  those  who  have. 


286 


XXI 

CONSPIRATORS  IN  CANADA 

IN  the  spring  of  1863  Clement  L.  Vallandig- 
ham  of  Ohio  was  arrested  by  General  Burn- 
side  for  his  words  and  acts,  which  seemed  to  the 
commanding  general  of  the  Department  of  the 
Ohio  to  be  treasonable.  Vallandigham  was  a 
prominent  "Peace  Democrat,"  and  at  the  time  of 
his  arrest  was  an  avowed  candidate  for  the  gov 
ernorship  of  his  State ;  and,  in  fact,  he  was  nomi 
nated  at  the  State  Convention  a  little  later.  Val 
landigham  was  tried  by  a  military  court,  convicted 
and  sentenced,  but  assumed  the  role  of  martyr 
to  the  cause  of  free  speech,  which  was  then  a 
popular  rallying-cry  for  a  certain  wing  of  the 
Democratic  party.  The  criticisms  of  some  of  the 
newspaper  opponents  of  the  Administration  were 
so  bitter  that  a  very  embarrassing  situation  was 
created.  The  Washington  authorities  did  not 
approve  of  Burnside's  action;  but  as  an  accom- 

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LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

plished  fact  it  was  indorsed  by  Lincoln,  who,  as 
a  way  out  of  the  dilemma,  proposed  the  exile  of 
Vallandigham  through  the  lines  of  the  Confed 
eracy.1 

Lincoln  could  not  foresee  all  the  consequences 
of  his  edict  of  May  19,  1863,  banishing  the  talk 
ative  Ohio  politician ;  but  looking  backward  now, 
the  writer  of  these  lines  is  of  the  opinion  that  the 
death  of  our  first  martyred  President  may  be 
traced  to  its  inception,  at  least,  indirectly,  to  Val- 
landigham's  conferences  with  the  Richmond 
authorities  during  his  enforced  exile.  We  may 
well  believe  that  with  his  persuasive  tongue  he 
was  able  to  convince  Davis  of  a  very  strong  peace 
sentiment  in  the  North,  which  could  be  fostered 
and  encouraged  to  the  great  benefit  of  the  South 
by  the  plans  which,  after  Vallandigham's  return 
North,  were  inaugurated  by  him  and  his  sympa 
thizers,  and  which  in  course  of  time  led  to  arson 
and  other  crimes  against  society  at  large.  In 
their  reflex  influence  upon  the  minds  of  certain 
zealots  and  fanatics  these  plans  and  their  resultant 

1  See  on  page  345,  Vol.  II,  of  "The  Complete  Works,"  Lincoln's 
letter  of  June  12,  1863,  to  Erastus  Corning  and  others  who,  at  a 
public  meeting  at  Albany,  May  16,  had  secured  the  passage  of  reso 
lutions  censuring  the  Administration  for  the  alleged  unconstitu 
tional  arrest  of  Vallandigham. 

288 


CONSPIRATORS  IN  CANADA 

deeds  furnished  the  inspiration  which,  in  the 
writer's  belief,  finally  resulted  in  the  tragedy  of 
April  14,  1865. 

Let  us  go  over  the  trail  from  Vallandigham's 
sojourn  in  the  Confederacy  in  1863  to  the  early 
summer  of  1864,  when  it  became  known  to  our 
Government  through  the  medium  of  its  secret 
service  that  President  Davis  had  appointed  spe 
cial  commissioners  to  reside  in  Canada,  ostensibly 
for  the  purpose  of  actively  cooperating  with  the 
leaders  of  the  peace  party  in  the  North,  and  their 
open  and  secret  allies,  in  the  creation  and  devel 
opment  of  peace  sentiments,  so  that  a  path  might 
be  opened  for  effective  peace  negotiations  be 
tween  the  Richmond  and  Washington  govern 
ments.  While  this  was  made  to  appear  as  the 
principal  duty  of  the  commissioners,  and  to  that 
extent  it  was  a  laudable  service,  their  zeal  and 
varied  inclinations  led  them  to  initiate  and  ac 
tively  support  other  measures  which  were  not  even 
hinted  at  in  their  official  instructions,  and  which 
there  is  no  good  reason  to  believe  were  approved 
by  President  Davis  or  his  cabinet,  although  the 
official  correspondence  between  Richmond  and 
Canada  published  since  the  close  of  the  war  tends 
to  show  that  some,  at  least,  of  the  Richmond 

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LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

authorities  had  definite  knowledge  of  the  des 
perate  acts  of  their  Canadian  representatives. 

Taking  the  official  record  in  order,  as  shown  by 
the  copies  and  extracts  given  herein  with  such 
explanation  as  may  be  necessary  for  an  intelli 
gent  understanding  of  each  transaction,  one  is 
amazed  at  the  wide  scope  and  devilish  purpose  of 
the  deep-laid  plans  for  the  destruction  of  life  and 
property,  some  of  which,  however,  were  fortu 
nately  discovered  in  time  to  prevent  their  being 
fully  carried  out.  The  first  communication  is 
this: 

Richmond,  Va.,  April  7,  1864. 
HON.  JACOB  THOMPSON,  Macon,  Miss. 

(Care  of  Gov.  Charles  Clark). 

If  your  engagements  will  permit  you  to  accept  service 
abroad  for  the  next  six  months,  please  come  here  im 
mediately.  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

Thompson  evidently  fell  in  with  the  scheme  in 
the  mind  of  Davis,  who  had  meantime  conferred 
with  several  other  persons  whom  he  wished  to 
include  in  the  commission,  for  we  next  find  the 
following : 

Richmond,  Va.,  April  27,  1864. 
Hon.  Jacob  Thompson, 

SIR:  Confiding  special  trust  in  your  zeal,  discretion,  and 
patriotism,  I  hereby  direct  you  to  proceed  at  once  to 
Canada,  there  to  carry  out  such  instructions  as  you  have 

290 


CONSPIRATORS  IN  CANADA 

received  from  me  verbally,,  in  such  manner  as  shall  seem 
most  to  conduce  to  the  furtherance  of  the  interests  of  the 
Confederate  States  of  America,  which  have  been  entrusted 
to  you.  Very  respectfully  &  truly  yours, 

JEFFN.  DAVIS. 
Similar  letter  to  Hon.  C.  C.  Clay,  Jr. 

In  addition  to  Jacob  Thompson  and  C.  C. 
Clay,  Jr.,  Davis  selected  Professor  James  P. 
Holcombe  and  George  N.  Saunders,  and  these 
four  commissioners  proceeded  to  Canada,  which 
they  made  their  headquarters  during  the  remain 
der  of  the  war,  keeping  up  communication  with 
Richmond  by  means  of  letters  carried  to  and 
fro  by  secret  agents,  and  also  by  "personals" 
in  one  of  the  New  York  dailies,  which  were 
inserted  by  one  of  their  agents  in  New  York 
City,  the  Richmond  authorities  having  facilities 
for  regularly  obtaining  copies  of  these  news 
papers  through  the  lines.  The  Confederate  com 
missioners  also  corresponded  from  time  to  time 
with  certain  peace  agitators  in  the  North,  and  by 
July  they  had  so  far  imposed  on  the  credulity  of 
Horace  Greeley  as  to  induce  that  patriotic  and 
honest  but  misguided  man  to  implore  President 
Lincoln  to  allow  the  four  Confederate  commis 
sioners  to  come  to  Washington  for  an  interview. 
John  Hay,  Lincoln's  secretary,  was  sent  to  New 

291 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

York  for  conference  with  Greeley,  and  after 
ward  to  the  Canadian  side  at  Niagara  Falls, 
where  Thompson,  Clay,  Holcombe,  and  Saun- 
ders  were  then  staying,  armed  with  a  safe  conduct 
to  Washington  and  return  for  those  gentlemen, 
subject  to  certain  prescribed  conditions,  as  fol 
lows: 

July.  18,  1864. 
To  WHOM  IT  MAY  CONCERN: 

Any  proposition  which  embraces  the  restoration  of  peace, 
the  integrity  of  the  whole  Union,  and  the  abandonment  of 
slavery,  and  which  comes  by  and  with  an  authority  that  can 
control  the  armies  now  at  war  against  the  United  States, 
will  be  received  and  considered  by  the  executive  govern 
ment  of  the  United  States  and  will  be  met  by  liberal  terms 
on  other  substantial  and  collateral  points,  and  the  bearer  or 
bearers  thereof  shall  have  safe  conduct  both  ways. 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

As  is  well  known  Greeley 's  chimerical  project 
resulted  in  failure,  as  the  commissioners  were  not 
able  to  meet  the  simple  and  reasonable  conditions 
prescribed  by  the  President. 

Our  Government  next  became  aware  of  the 
pernicious  schemes  of  the  conspirators — for  such 
they  must  be  called — in  the  field  of  active  coop 
eration  with  C.  L.  Vallandigham  and  other 
Northern  malcontents  in  their  plan  of  forming 
in  Indiana,  New  York,  Ohio,  Illinois,  and  other 

292 


CONSPIRATORS  IN  CANADA 

States  a  secret  order,  whose  members  were  to  be 
enrolled  under  military  rules,  bound  with  for 
midable  oaths,  and  ultimately  provided  with  arms 
and  ammunition  for  active  service  in  support  of 
the  plans  of  the  organization.  These  plans  con 
templated,  among  other  things,  opposition  to 
army  drafts,  release  of  Confederate  prisoners 
wherever  possible,  burning  of  Northern  cities, 
and  general  devilment  for  the  purpose  of  harass 
ing  the  Federal  authorities,  the  expectation  being 
that  an  appreciable  number  of  Union  troops 
would  be  drawn  from  the  armies  at  the  front  to 
protect  the  threatened  cities  and  frustrate  the 
plans  of  the  "Copperheads,"  as  they  were  called. 
There  was  also  held  before  the  eyes  of  certain 
ambitious  leaders  of  the  movement  the  glittering 
prospect  of  a  new  Confederacy  to  be  composed 
of  certain  States  in  the  then  Northwest,  which  at 
an  opportune  time  were  to  secede  from  the 
Union;  and  a  wild  hope  was  cherished  by  some 
of  the  eastern  leaders  of  the  movement  that  even 
the  Empire  State  might  secede  and  set  up  a  sepa 
rate  government  on  the  Atlantic  seaboard.1 

1  For  full  details  concerning  these  various  secret  orders,  known 
as  the  Sons  of  Liberty,  Knights  of  the  Golden  Circle,  McClellan 
Minute  Guard,  etc.,  see  Judge  Advocate  General  Holt's  re 
port  to  the  Secretary  of  War  dated  October  8,  1864,  printed  in  the 
Rebellion  Records,  Series  I,  Vol.  VIII,  p.  930. 

18  293 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

It  was  rumored  that  the  membership  of  the 
secret  band  in  New  York  City  alone  amounted  to 
20,000,  all  suitably  officered  and  armed.  In 
Thompson's  report  to  the  Confederate  authori 
ties,  of  December  3,  1864,  he  estimated  the  whole 
membership  of  the  order  at  60,000.  It  was 
reported  by  the  secret  agents  of  the  War  Depart 
ment  that  some  of  the  New  York  State  officials 
were  in  sympathy  with  the  movement,  but  it  was 
not  believed  that  Governor  Seymour  or  his  sub 
ordinates  had  any  previous  knowledge  of  the  vil 
lainous  plans  for  setting  fire  to  New  York  City, 
or  for  the  assassination  of  Lincoln.  However, 
all  was  not  clear  sailing  for  the  commissioners, 
and  one  of  them,  at  least,  became  discouraged, 
as  the  following  letter  shows : 

St.  Catharines,  Canada,  West, 

September  12,  1864. 
HON.  J.  P.  BENJAMIN,  Secretary  of  State, 

Richmond,  Va. 

...  As  to  revolution  in  the  North-west  or  any  where  in 
the  United  States,  I  am  growing  skeptical.  The  men  who 
gave  us  strongest  assurances  of  the  purpose  of  the  "Sons  of 
Liberty"  to  rush  to  arms  .  .  .  are  now  in  prison  or  fugi 
tives  in  Canada.  ...  C.  C.  CLAY,  JR. 

Meanwhile  the  War  Department  was  not  idle, 
and  through  the  services  of  a  secret  agent,  who 

294 


CONSPIRATORS  IN  CANADA 

was  also  in  the  employ  of  Thompson,  kept  itself 
posted  on  all  the  important  movements  of  the 
conspirators. 

In  chapter  V  an  account  has  been  given 
of  Thompson's  cipher-despatch  dated  Clifton, 
Canada,  October  13,  1864,  addressed  to  Jefferson 
Davis  at  Richmond,  and  the  reply,  also  in  cipher, 
dated  Richmond,  October  19.  These  despatches 
were  intrusted  to  our  agent,  above  referred  to, 
and  by  him  as  he  passed  through  Washington  were 
shown  to  Major  Eckert,  who  brought  them,  each 
in  its  turn,  to  the  War  Department,  where  the 
cipher-operators  quickly  translated  them  into 
English.  Thompson's  despatch  included  these 
words : 

We  again  urge  the  immense  importance  of  our  gaining 
immediate  advantages.  We  now  look  upon  the  re-election  of 
Lincoln  in  November  as  almost  certain. 

Davis  in  reply  used  the  following  language : 

Your  letter  of  1 3th  at  hand.  There  is  yet  time  enough  to 
colonize  many  voters  before  November. 

Genl.  Longstreet  is  to  attack  Sheridan  without  delay  and 
then  move  north  toward  unprotected  points.  .  .  .  He  will 
endeavor  to  assist  the  Republicans  in  collecting  their  bal 
lots.  Be  watchful  and  assist  him. 

JEFFN.  DAVIS. 
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LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

Unlike  Lincoln,  Davis  was  not  disposed  to  be 
facetious  in  his  correspondence,  but  his  remark 
about  Longstreet  assisting  in  the  collection  of 
Republican  ballots,  which  probably  referred  to 
the  soldiers'  vote,  had  in  it  a  touch  of  humor.  It 
turned  out,  however,  that  in  that  very  week  at 
Cedar  Creek,  Sheridan  was  able  to  dash  their 
hopes. 

While  in  certain  directions  the  plans  of  the 
conspirators  were  being  thwarted,  other  schemes 
were  inaugurated  which  were  dastardly  and  vil 
lainous  in  the  extreme.  One  source  of  informa 
tion  as  to  such  plans  was  our  consul  at  Halifax, 
who  reported  as  follows : 

Halifax,  Nova  Scotia,  November  1,  1864. 
HON.  WM.  H.  SEWARD,  Secretary  of  State: 

It  is  secretly  asserted  by  secessionists  here  that  plans 
have  been  formed  and  will  be  carried  into  execution  by  the 
rebels  and  their  allies,  for  setting  fire  to  the  principal  cities 
in  the  Northern  States  on  the  day  of  the  Presidential  elec 
tion.  M.  M.  JACKSON,  United  States  Consul. 

Another  and  more  significant  bit  of  news  was 
contained  in  a  letter  dated  Syracuse,  N.  Y., 
November  2,  1864,  and  addressed  to  Hon.  Wil 
liam  H.  Seward,  Secretary  of  State,  Washing 
ton,  which  inclosed  a  copy  of  an  order  just  issued 

296 


CONSPIRATORS  IN  CANADA 

by  John  A.  Green,  Ad  jut  ant- General  of  the 
State  of  New  York.  This  order,  after  referring 
to  the  general  election  to  be  held  on  November  8, 
and  the  rights  of  the  people  to  an  "untrammeled 
franchise,"  advised  the  public  and  the  local  au 
thorities  in  each  county  and  election  district  that 
"No  military  interference  can  be  permitted  with 
the  election"  and  that  "The  Federal  Government 
is  charged  with  no  duty  or  responsibility  what 
ever  relating  to  an  election  to  be  held  in  the  State 
of  New  York."  A  postscript  to  Holmes's  letter 
was  as  follows:  "There  is  great  reason  to  fear 
that  Lincoln  will  be  assassinated  soon." 

Vague  rumors  of  a  plot  to  kidnap  or  assassinate 
the  President  had  previously  reached  the  War 
Department,  but  had  been  given  little  credence 
until  just  about  this  time  a  photograph  of  Lin 
coln  had  been  received  by  Mrs.  Lincoln  through 
the  mail  which  showed  red  ink-spots  on  the  shirt- 
front,  with  a  rope  around  the  neck,  the  ends  being 
drawn  tautly  upward.  On  one  of  his  visits  to  the 
cipher-room  Lincoln  drew  this  photograph  out 
of  his  high  hat  and  told  us  that  it  had  caused 
Mrs.  Lincoln  some  anxiety  which  he  did  not 
share,  as  he  had  long  ago  become  accustomed  to 
seeing  caricatures  of  himself.  He  added  some 

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LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

words  of  surprise  and  sorrow  that  any  human 
being  could  be  so  devoid  of  feeling  as  thus  to 
wound  the  heart  of  an  innocent  woman. 

A  duplicate  of  this  mutilated  picture  of  Lin 
coln  came  by  chance  into  the  possession  of  Eckert 
under  the  following  circumstances.  While  on  his 
way  to  Cortlandt  Street  Ferry  on  November  26, 
1864,  Eckert  found  in  a  street  car  an  unsealed  en 
velop  containing,  among  other  papers,  a  letter 
giving  directions,  evidently  referring  to  a  kidnap 
ping  plot  and  also  a  picture  of  Lincoln  with  a 
rope  around  his  neck  and  red  ink-marks  on  the 
bosom  of  the  shirt.  These  papers  were  after 
ward  discovered  to  belong  to  Payne,  the  assassin, 
—see  chapter  XXVII. 


298 


XXII 

THE  ATTEMPT  TO  BURN  NEW  YORK 

AS  explained  in  the  previous  chapter,  one  of 
-^V-  Thompson's  messengers  who  traveled  be 
tween  Canada  and  Richmond,  was  also  in  our 
secret  service,  and  the  War  Department  was 
therefore  frequently  advised  of  the  plans  of  the 
conspirators.1  This  man  had  reported  that  the 
rumor  mentioned  in  Consul  Jackson's  letter  of 
November  1,  1864  (on  page  296),  of  a  purpose 
to  set  fire  to  certain  Northern  cities  was  correct, 
but  that  the  work  would  not  be  attempted  on 
Election  Day,  November  8,  but  several  weeks  la 
ter;  and  that  due  notice  would  be  given  by  him 
when  the  actual  date  was  fixed.  Later  advices  in 
dicated  the  week  after  Thanksgiving  as  the  prob 
able  time.  Nothing  further,  however,  being  re 
ceived  from  our  spy,  Major  Eckert  went  to  New 

1  See  "The  Trial  of  the  Conspirators,"  compiled  by  Pitman,  p.  24, 
also  the  quotation  from  my  war  diary  in  chapter  V. 

299 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

York  on  Thanksgiving  Day,  November  24,  and 
on  the  following  morning  called  on  Major-Gen- 
eral  Dix,  commanding  the  Department  of  the 
East,  for  a  conference.  The  latter  had  already 
been  advised  by  Secretary  Stanton  of  the  ma 
chinations  of  the  Confederate  commissioners 
and  their  emissaries,  but  was  wholly  incredulous 
of  the  news  about  the  burning  of  the  city. 

With  the  aid  of  the  police  department  of  the 
city  Dix  had  already  used  every  available  means 
to  track  the  conspirators,  but  without  success,  and 
the  scheme  appeared  so  diabolical  that  he  con 
cluded  it  was  wholly  imaginary.  Eckert  tried  to 
convince  him,  but  could  not,  that  there  was  solid 
ground  for  the  rumors,  and  that  the  danger  was 
not  only  real  but  imminent.  Superintendent 
Kennedy  and  Inspector  Murray  of  the  police 
department  were  called  in  conference,  and  they 
too  proved  to  be  unbelievers. 

Eckert  therefore  left  them  for  the  purpose  of 
returning  to  his  hotel  to  prepare  a  cipher-message 
to  Secretary  Stanton,  asking  for  further  instruc 
tions.  Upon  entering  a  Broadway  omnibus,  his 
eyes  encountered  those  of  our  secret  service  man 
from  Canada.  Neither  showed  any  recognition 
of  the  other,  but  when  Eckert  left  the  stage  at 

300 


THE  ATTEMPT  TO  BURN  NEW  YORK 

the  St.  Nicholas  Hotel  the  man  also  got  out  and 
followed  him  into  the  hotel  and  up-stairs  to  his 
room.  All  this  time  no  word  had  been  spoken  by 
either.  After  the  key  was  turned  in  the  door,  the 
man  said  that  as  there  was  not  sufficient  time  to 
get  the  information  to  Washington  by  means  of 
a  New  York  "News"  personal,  the  usual  channel 
of  communication,  he  had  hurried  from  Toronto 
to  New  York  to  communicate  to  the  War  De 
partment  the  fact  that  the  conspirators  intended 
to  set  fire  to  twelve  or  more  New  York  hotels, 
whose  names  he  gave,  that  very  Friday  evening. 
A  lunch  was  ordered  for  the  man,  who  was  raven 
ously  hungry  and  tired,  having  traveled  for  over 
twenty- four  hours,  and  after  his  meal  he  was  told 
to  lie  down,  which  he  did,  falling  asleep  almost 
instantly.  Eckert  locked  him  in  and  went  back  to 
Dix  with  his  fresh  confirmatory  evidence,  and 
both  the  military  and  civil  authorities  then  ac 
cepted  the  situation  and  took  immediate  steps  to 
thwart  the  plans  of  the  conspirators.  Plain- 
clothes  men,  policemen  and  soldiers  by  the  hun 
dred  were  quickly  distributed  about  the  city,  with 
particular  reference  to  the  hotels  that  had  been 
specially  named  by  our  spy  as  starting-points  for 
the  general  conflagration. 

301 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

Thirteen  hotels  were  selected  to  be  fired,  they 
being  the  Astor,  United  States,  Fifth  Avenue, 
Everett,  St.  Nicholas,  Lafarge,  Howard,  Han- 
ford,  Belmont,  New  England,  St.  James,  Tam 
many  and  Metropolitan.  Rooms  in  these  hotels 
were  taken  by  the  members  of  the  band,  several 
of  whom  registered  at  two  or  more  places.  The 
plan  they  adopted,  and  which  was  carried  out 
that  evening,  November  25,  1864,  was  as  fol 
lows:  At  the  hour  agreed  upon,  or  as  soon  after 
as  possible,  the  party  in  each  case  placed  his 
door-key  in  the  keyhole  on  the  outside,  and  then, 
after  a  suitable  disposition  of  the  bedding  and 
furniture,  started  a  fire  by  breaking  a  bottle 
of  liquid  having  the  qualities  of  Greek  fire,  and 
which  had  been  prepared  beforehand  by  one  of 
the  band  familiar  with  that  class  of  chemicals. 
In  a  few  cases  a  clockwork  device  was  the 
medium,  set  to  go  off  within  about  an  hour  after 
being  wound  up.  In  either  case  the  conspirator 
having  completed  his  work  left  his  room,  locked 
his  door,  and  disappeared.  In  addition  to  the 
fires  at  the  hotels  named  there  was  an  alarm  in 
Barnum's  Museum,  and  two  hay  barges  in  the 
North  River  at  the  foot  of  Beach  Street  were  also 
set  on  fire;  but,  fortunately,  because  of  the  ac- 

302 


THE  ATTEMPT  TO  BURN  NEW  YORK 

tivity  of  the  military  and  civil  authorities,  who 
were  so  accurately  informed  in  advance  regard 
ing  the  scheme,  none  of  these  dastardly  attempts 
to  cause  a  destructive  conflagration  proved  suc 
cessful.  Had  they  all  or  even  a  majority  of  them 
succeeded,  one's  imagination  weakens  in  the  ef 
fort  to  picture  the  awful  loss  of  life  and  prop 
erty  that  almost  certainly  would  have  resulted. 
Two  reasons  for  the  failure,  both  referring  to 
traitors  in  their  camp,  are  indicated  in  Thomp 
son's  report  to  his  principals  (which  will  be 
quoted  later) ,  the  first  being  a  defect  in  the  quali 
ties  of  the  Greek  fire,  and  the  other  a  premature 
disclosure  of  the  plot  to  the  Federal  authorities 
by  some  one  in  the  confidence  of  the  Confederate 
commissioners.  The  second  of  these  reasons  had 
a  real  foundation,  whatever  may  have  been  true 
of  the  other. 

For  obvious  reasons,  General  Dix  requested 
the  newspapers  not  to  publish  the  names  of  sus 
pected  or  arrested  persons,  but  the  following 
were,  however,  mentioned,  the  names,  no  doubt, 
being  fictitious.  At  the  Astor  House,  a  man 
named  Haynes ;  at  the  Howard,  one  named  Hor- 
ner;  and  at  the  Belmont  a  man  who  had  regis 
tered  as  Lieut.  Lewis,  U.S.A.  The  New  York 

303 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

Hotel  Keepers'  Society  offered  a  reward  of 
$20,000  for  the  arrest  and  conviction  of  the  mis 
creants;  but  while  there  were  numerous  arrests 
(including  certain  residents  of  the  city) ,  evidence 
sufficient  to  convict  them  could  not  be  secured. 
Only  one  of  the  active  conspirators  was  ever  ap 
prehended,  namely,  Captain  Robert  C.  Kennedy 
of  the  Confederate  army,  who  had,  with  all  the 
others,  escaped  to  Canada,  the  day  or  day  after 
the  fires  were  started.  Kennedy  returned  to  the 
United  States  in  December,  1864,  and  was  ar 
rested  in  Cleveland,  Ohio.  His  trial  took  place 
at  Fort  Lafayette,  in  New  York  harbor,  under 
General  Orders  No.  14,  dated  January  17,  1865. 
The  commission  lasted  twenty-three  days  and  was 
presided  over  by  Brigadier-General  Fitz  Henry 
Warren,  and  Kennedy  was  hanged  on  March  25, 
1865.  In  the  sentence  of  the  military  court  the 
crime  was  characterized  as  follows : 

.  .  .  The  attempt  to  set  fire  to  the  city  of  New  York  is 
one  of  the  greatest  atrocities  of  the  age.  There  is  nothing 
in  the  annals  of  barbarism  which  evinces  greater  vindictive- 
ness.  ...  In  all  the  buildings  fired,  not  only  non-com 
batant  men,  but  women  and  children,  were  congregated  in 
large  numbers,  and  nothing  but  the  most  diabolical  spirit 
of  revenge  could  have  impelled  the  incendiaries  to  act  so 
revoltingly. 

304 


UNIVERSITY 

Of 


J 

^ 

THE  ATTEMPT  TO  BURN  NEW  YORK 

The  real  agents  in  the  plot,  on  their  arrival  in 
Canada,  reported  to  Thompson  and  Clay,  with 
accounts  of  their  unsuccessful  efforts.  In 
Thompson's  letter  of  December  3,  1864,  to  Judah 
P.  Benjamin,  the  Confederate  Secretary  of 
State,  he  mentions  the  attempts  to  start  confla 
grations  not  only  in  New  York  but  also  in  cer 
tain  other  Northern  cities.  This  remarkable  re 
port  from  a  high  commissioner  to  a  government 
claiming  to  have  been  actuated  by  motives  of  the 
highest  order,  contains  these  cold-blooded  state 
ments  : 

...  I  have  relaxed  no  effort  to  carry  out  the  objects 
the  Government  had  in  sending  me  here.  .  .  .  Money  has 
been  advanced  to  Mr.  Churchill  of  Cincinnati  to  organize  a 
corps  for  the  purpose  of  incendiarism  in  that  city.  I 
consider  him  a  true  man  and  although  as  yet  he  has  effected 
but  little,  I  am  in  constant  expectation  of  hearing  of  effec 
tive  work  in  that  quarter.  .  .  .  Having  nothing  else  on  hand, 
Colonel  Martin  expressed  a  wish  to  organize  a  corps  to 
burn  New  York  city.  He  was  allowed  to  do  so  and  a  most 
daring  attempt  has  been  made  to  fire  that  city,  but  their 
reliance  on  Greek  fire  has  proved  a  misfortune.  It  cannot 
be  relied  on  as  an  agent  in  such'  work.  I  have  no  faith 
whatever  in  it  and  no  attempt  shall  hereafter  be  made  under 
my  general  directions  with  any  such  material.  .  .  .  During 
my  stay  in  Canada  a  great  amount  of  property  has  been 
destroyed  by  burning.  The  information  brought  me  as  to 
the  perpetrators  is  so  conflicting  and  contradictory  that  I 
am  satisfied  nothing  can  certainly  be  known.  Should  claims 

305 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

be  presented  at  the  War  Office  for  payment  for  this  kind  of 
work,  not  one  dollar  should  be  advanced  on  any  proof  ad 
duced  until  all  the  parties  concerned  may  have  an  oppor 
tunity  for  making  out  and  presenting  proof.  Several  parties 
claim  to  have  done  the  work  at  St.  Louis,  New  Orleans, 
Louisville,  Brooklyn,  Philadelphia  and  Cairo.  ...  I  infer 
from  your  Personal  in  the  New  York  News  that  it  is  your 
wish  I  should  remain  here  for  the  present  and  I  shall  obey 
your  orders.  Indeed  I  have  so  many  papers  in  my  posses 
sion,  which  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy  would  utterly  ruin 
and  destroy  very  many  of  the  prominent  men  in  the  North, 
that  a  due  sense  of  my  obligations  to  them  will  force  on 
me  the  extremest  caution  in  my  movements.  .  .  .  The  at 
tempt  on  New  York  has  produced  a  great  panic  which  will 
not  subside  at  their  bidding.  .  .  .x 

John  Wilkes  Booth,  the  assassin,  has  not  been 
certainly  connected  with  the  conspiracy  to  burn 
New  York,  but  he  was  in  that  city  on  the  day  the 
fires  occurred.  In  the  New  York  papers  of 
November  25,  1864,  an  advertisement  appeared 
of  a  performance  that  night  at  the  Winter  Gar 
den  Theater  in  aid  of  the  fund  for  the  erection 
of  a  bronze  statue  of  Shakspere  (now  standing 
on  the  Mall  in  Central  Park).  Shakspere's 
"Julius  Caesar"  was  the  play  announced,  and  the 

1  For  further  details  of  the  attempt  to  burn  New  York  City  see 
"Confederate  Operations  in  Canada  and  New  York,"  by  John  W. 
Headley,  who  claims  to  have  held  a  commission  as  captain  in  the 
Confederate  army,  and  to  have  been  assigned  by  President  Davis 
to  special  secret  service  under  Thompson  and  Clay,  Confederate 
commissioners  in  Canada. 

306 


THE  ATTEMPT  TO  BURN  NEW  YORK 

three  brothers,  Edwin,  Junius  and  John  Wilkes 
Booth,  were  to  act  together,  the  last  named  tak 
ing  the  part  of  Mark  Antony.  While  the  play 
was  in  progress,  word  reached  the  audience  that 
Barnum's  Museum  and  several  hotels  were  on 
fire.  There  was  great  excitement,  and  people 
rushed  to  the  exits  to  escape  from  the  building. 
Edwin  Booth  came  on  the  stage  and  urged  the 
audience  to  remain  seated  as  the  Winter  Garden 
Theater  was  not  on  fire  and  there  was  absolutely 
no  danger.  His  speech  had  the  effect  of  calm 
ing  the  frightened  people,  and  the  play  then 
went  on  to  the  end,  although  the  audience  was 
somewhat  depleted. 

While  John  Wilkes  Booth  may  not  have  had 
previous  knowledge  of  the  plot  to  burn  New 
York  it  is  certain  that  his  associate,  Lewis 
Powell — or  Payne,  as  he  was  called — was  ac 
quainted  with  the  diabolical  scheme,  for  after  his 
arrest  in  April,  1865,  he  confessed  that  he  had 
been  selected  to  set  fire  to  one  of  the  hotels  on 
that  November  night,  but  had  refused  on  prin 
ciple  to  act,  his  reason  being  that  while  he  was 
willing  to  take  the  life  of  a  high  official  of  the 
Government  for  the  good  of  the  cause,  he  would 
not  join  in  anything  that  would  tend  to  the  need- 

307 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

less  destruction  of  property  and  the  sacrifice  of 
innocent  lives. 

At  the  trial  of  the  conspirators  in  the  assassina 
tion,  Sanford  Conover  testified  that  in  April, 
1864,  Surratt  brought  to  Montreal  and  delivered 
to  Thompson  cipher-despatches  from  Jefferson 
Davis  and  Judah  P.  Benjamin,  approving  of  the 
plot  to  kidnap  Lincoln  and  his  cabinet.  Thomp 
son  said  (as  Conover  testified),  "This  makes  the 
thing  all  right."  Doubt  is  thrown  on  this  testi 
mony  by  the  fact  that  Thompson's  appointment 
as  commissioner  in  Canada  was  dated  April  27, 
1864,  and  there  could  not  have  been  time  for  him 
to  reach  Canada,  communicate  with  Richmond 
and  receive  back  in  "April"  the  despatches  men 
tioned  by  Conover.  The  Official  Records,  how 
ever,  show  that  in  the  weeks  of  excitement  and 
tension  immediately  following  the  death  of  the 
President,  the  Judge- Advocate-General  of  the 
War  Department  believed  his  Bureau  had  sub 
stantial  proof  of  the  complicity  of  the  Confed 
erate  government  and  its  Canadian  commis 
sioners  in  the  assassination  plot.  Judge  Holt's 
report  to  the  Secretary  of  War  (see  Rebellion 
Records,  Ser.  II,  Vol.  8,  p.  977)  bears  this  in 
dorsement  : 

308 


THE  ATTEMPT  TO  BURN  NEW  YORK 

Bureau  of  Military  Justice,  War  Department, 

Washington,  D.  C.,  May  2,  1865. 

Respectfully  returned  with  report  that  the  testimony 
which  has  been  under  consideration  by  this  Bureau  indi 
cates  that  Jefferson  Davis,  Geo.  N.  Saunders,  Jacob 
Thompson,  Clement  C.  Clay  and  others  .  .  .  were  in  com 
plicity  with  the  assassins  of  President  Lincoln  and  their 
accomplices  who  committed  the  crimes  referred  to. 

J.  HOLT,  Judge  Advo.  Genl. 

The  above  is  quoted  not  to  revive  or  kindle 
anew  war-time  animosities,  but  merely  to  com 
plete  this  account,  and  the  writer  may  add  that, 
having  read  with  care  Judge  Holt's  report,  he 
does  not  discover  in  it  evidence  to  satisfy  him 
that  either  President  Davis  or  any  member  of 
his  cabinet  had  guilty  knowledge  of  John  WilkeS 
Booth's  plot  to  murder  the  President. 


19  809 


XXIII 


GRANT'S  ORDERS  FOR  THE  REMOVAL  OF  THOMAS 


ENERAL  GRANT  wrote  three  separate 
orders,  one  after  the  other,  removing  Gen 
eral  Thomas  from  command  of  the  Army  of  the 
Cumberland.  President  Lincoln  suspended  the 
first,  General  Logan  did  not  deliver  the  second 
because  Thomas  had  meantime  advanced  against 
Hood  and  fought  and  won  the  battle  of  Nash 
ville,  and  Major  Eckert  suppressed  the  third. 

Before  Grant  came  east  to  take  general  com 
mand  of  the  army,  March,  1864,  he  was  doubtless 
under  the  impression,  which  was  generally  preva 
lent1  (at  least  the  cipher-operators  so  believed), 
that  Administration  influences  in  Washington 

1  Captain  David  Lowry,  now  of  Pittsburg,  who  was  Adjutant  of  the 
5th  Brigade,  Army  of  the  Ohio,  is  authority  for  the  statement 
that  "Grant's  acceptance  of  the  command  of  the  United  States 
army  in  March,  1864,  was  well-known  among  the  staff  to  be  on 
condition  of  absolute  freedom  of  control  from  Washington  in 
fluences."  See  also  Lincoln's  letter  to  Grant  April  30,  1864,  at  the 
opening  of  Grant's  first  campaign  in  the  east,  in  which  he  said, 
"The  particulars  of  your  plans  I  neither  know  nor  seek  to  know." 

310 


GRANT'S  ORDERS  REMOVING  THOMAS 

were  frequently  allowed  to  interfere  with  what 
was  the  better  judgment  of  military  men,  and  it 
was  also  understood  that  he  was  not  favorably 
disposed  toward  Thomas.1 

Mr.  Carnegie  told  me  in  May,  1906,  that  as 
Grant  passed  through  Pittsburgh  on  his  way  to 
Washington  in  March,  1864,  he  said  to  Grant 
that  he  presumed  Thomas  would  be  placed  in 
command  of  the  army  in  the  west,  and  that  Grant 
replied,  "No;  Sherman  is  the  man." 

During  the  ensuing  months  of  the  year,  Hal- 
leek,  Chief  of  Staff  at  Washington,  had,  as  the 
cipher-operators  believed,  caused  Grant's  un 
friendly  feeling  toward  Thomas  to  be  strength 
ened,  and  both,  we  knew,  were  of  the  opinion 
that  Thomas  in  the  west,  as  McClellan  had  been 
in  the  east,  was  too  cautious  to  take  the  initia 
tive,  and  too  much  disposed  to  inactivity.  Fear 
ing  that  Hood  would  cross  the  Cumberland  and 
reach  the  Ohio  before  Thomas  made  up  his  mind 

1  It  will  be  recalled  that  after  the  battle  of  Shiloh,  in  the  spring  of 
1862,  Halleck  virtually  shelved  Grant,  his  second  in  rank,  placing 
Thomas  in  command  of  four  of  Grant's  divisions.  In  his  Memoirs, 
Vol.  I,  p.  377,  Grant  says:  "For  myself  I  was  little  more  than  an 
observer.  Orders  were  sent  to  the  right  wing  or  reserve,  ignoring 
me,  and  advances  were  made  from  one  line  of  intrenchments  to  an 
other,  without  notifying  me.  My  position  was  so  embarrassing,  in 
fact,  that  I  made  several  applications  during  the  siege  [of  Corinth] 
to  be  relieved.  ..." 

311 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

to  attack  him,  Grant  sent  a  telegram  from  City 
Point  on  December  9,  1864,  directing  Halleck 
to  prepare  an  order  and  telegraph  it  to  Nashville, 
relieving  Thomas,  and  placing  Schofield  in  com 
mand.  The  order  was  made  out  in  the  name  of 
the  President,  but  was  not  sent  because  the  Presi 
dent,  who  once  before  had  defended  Thomas 
against  public  criticism  (as  expressed  in  the 
Maxwell  "crazygram,"  printed  in  chapter  XII), 
now  supported  him  against  his  (Lincoln's)  own 
military  advisers,  and  Grant's  order  was  sus 
pended  by  Lincoln,  after  being  prepared  by  As 
sistant  Adjutant-General  Townsend  as  follows: 

(GENERAL  ORDERS  No. —  ) 

War  Department,  Adjutant  General's   Office,   Washington, 
D.  C.,  December  9,  1864. 

In  accordance  with  the  following  dispatch  from  Lieu 
tenant-General  Grant,  viz:  "Please  telegraph  order  reliev 
ing  him  [Gen'l  Thomas]  at  once  and  placing  [Gen'l]  Scho 
field  in  command.  Thomas  should  be  directed  to  turn  over 
all  dispatches  received  since  the  Battle  of  Franklin  to  Scho 
field.  The  President  orders: 

I.  That  Maj. -Gen'l  J.  M.  Schofield  assume  command  of 
all  troops  in  the  Departments  of  the  Cumberland,  the  Ohio, 
and  the  Tennessee. 

II.  That  Maj  .-Gen'l  George  H.  Thomas  report  to  Gen'l 
Schofield  for  duty  and  turn  over  to  him  all  orders  and  dis 
patches  received  by  him,  as  specified  above. 

By  order  of  the  Secretary  of  War. 
312 


GRANT'S  ORDERS  REMOVING  THOMAS 

Nicolay  and  Hay  say  that  "the  authorities  took 
the  responsibility  of  delaying  the  order."  Major 
Johnson,  Stanton's  private  secretary,  says  "the 
order  was  prepared  by  Halleck  but  held  by  him 
until  a  reply  could  be  received  from  Thomas  to 
Halleck's  telegram  of  December  10,  referring  to 
Grant's  dissatisfaction  at  the  delay."  The  truth 
probably  is  that  Lincoln,  Stanton,  and  Halleck 
conferred  together,  and  that  the  concensus  of 
their  opinion  was  to  allow  Thomas  one  more  op 
portunity  to  move  against  Hood  before  Grant's 
order  was  executed;  but  the  writer  believes 
that  Lincoln's  judgment  was  the  controlling 
factor. 

From  December  9  until  December  13  Grant 
and  Halleck  were  in  daily  correspondence  about 
the  suspended  order,  and  on  the  latter  date  Grant 
wrote  his  second  order  relieving  Thomas,  and  sent 
it  by  the  hand  of  Logan  to  be  delivered  in  person, 
provided,  when  Logan  arrived  at  Nashville, 
Thomas  had  not  yet  advanced.  (See  Special 
Orders  149,  City  Point,  Virginia,  December  13, 
1864. )  Before  Logan  was  a  day's  journey  away, 
however,  Grant  became  still  more  anxious  and 
started  in  person  for  Nashville  via  Washington, 
as  shown  by  the  following  telegrams : 

313 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

City  Point,  To.,  December  14.  1S<>4,  S  P.M. 
MAJO*-GEXOUU.    MEADE:    I    am    unexpectedly    called 
away.  ...  U.  S.  GRAXT.  Ueotenant-GeneraL 

(Same  to  Major-General  Ord.) 

City  Point,  To., 

December  15,  1864.  received  at  3:15  P.M. 
MAjo«-GmxxmAi.  H.  W.  HALLECK.  Chief  of  Staff:  Lieu 
tenant-General  Grant  left  last  evening  for  Washington  and 
will  probably  reach  there  this  afternoon. 

Jxo.  A.  RAWLESCS, 
Brigadier-General  and  Chief  of  Staff. 

Grant  arrived  in  Washington  December  15,  in 
the  afternoon,  and  found  that  the  wires  to  Xash- 
vilie  were  interrupted,  as  shown  by  the  following 
local  despatches  to  Thomas,  and  that  there  was 
nothing  to  indicate  that  Thomas  had  yet  moved 
toward  the  enemv : 


Dec.   14.  1864,  10:20  P.M. 
GCTZKAI.  THOMA«:  Toe  telegraph  line  stopped  working 
of  Gallatm  at  about  5  Ob  P.M-       J.  C. 


Aotftrifc,  December  14,  1864,  11  P.M. 
THOMA§:    The   line   luAwum   Clarksville    and 
Bowling  Green  is  also  cut,  which  serers  connection  with 
Tnwiilfc  entirely  for  to-day.     I  will  endeavor  to  have  the 
Clarksrilk  roofcc  reestablished  in  morning.  .  .  . 

J.  C. 
314 


GRANT'S  ORDERS  REMOVING  THOMAS 

A  conference  was  held  in  the  War  Depart 
ment  on  the  evening  of  December  15,  between 
Lincoln,  Stanton,  Grant,  and  Halleck.  Major 
Eckert  being  called  in  for  consultation  regarding 
the  telegraphic  situation,  reported  that  nothing 
had  been  received  from  Thomas  for  twenty- four 
hours.  Grant  expressed  his  continued  anxiety 
and  finally  told  the  President  that  he  intended  to 
continue  on  his  journey  to  Nashville  and  take 
command  in  person,  meantime  relieving  Thomas 
and  placing  Schofield  in  immediate  command 
until  his  arrival. 

Grant  then  wrote  his  third  order  removing 
Thomas,  and  although  Lincoln  and  Stanton  were 
strongly  opposed  to  such  action,  they  were  forced 
to  consent  because  of  Grant's  urgent  importunity. 
The  final  order  for  the  removal  of  Thomas  was 
then  handed  to  Eckert  for  transmission,  Grant 
going  to  Willard's  Hotel  to  prepare  for  his  de 
parture. 

Eckert  says  he  then  returned  to  the  telegraph 
office,  where  in  fact  he  had  been  on  duty  con 
stantly  day  and  night  for  nearly  a  week.  After 
conversing  for  a  while  with  Pittsburgh,  the  re 
peating  office  for  Louisville,  he  learned  that  the 
line  to  Nashville  by  one  route  had  been  repaired 

315 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

and  that  messages  were  being  exchanged.  With 
General  Grant's  final  despatch  in  his  hands  Eck- 
ert  was  in  a  quandary.  Should  he  put  it  on  the 
wires  or  not?  Recalling  the  protests  of  the 
President  and  the  Secretary  of  War  only  an  hour 
before,  against  the  removal  of  Thomas,  he  con 
cluded  to  hold  the  telegram  until  he  could  hear 
from  VanDuzer.  So  he  waited  for  over  an  hour 
until  finally  at  11  P.M.  (Dec.  15)  the  following 
telegrams  came  in  cipher,  the  translation  being  in 
my  handwriting : 

Nashville,  Tenn.,  Dec.  14,  1864,  8  P.M. 
MAJOR-GENERAL  H.  W.  HALLECK,  Washington,  D.  C. : 
Your  telegram  of  12:30  P.M.,  to-day  is  received.     The  ice 
having  melted  away  to-day,  the  enemy  will  be  attacked  to 
morrow  morning.  .  .  .  GEORGE  H.  THOMAS, 

Major-General  U.  S.  Vols.,  Commanding. 

Nashville,    Dec.    15,    1864,    10:30    P.M. 
MAJ.  T.  T.  ECKERT:  Our  line  advanced  and  engaged  the 
rebel  line  at  9  this  A.M.    (Then  follows  a  long  eye-witness  ac 
count  of  the  first  day's  battle  resulting  in  an  initial  victory 
for  our  army.)   ...  J.  C.  VANDUZER. 

.  Eckert  says  he  ran  down-stairs  with  the  two 
telegrams  in  his  hand  and  started  for  Stanton's 
residence  on  K  Street,  in  the  ambulance,  which 
was  always  in  readiness  at  the  door  of  the  War 

316 


GRANT'S  ORDERS  REMOVING  THOMAS 

Department.  Stanton  appeared  at  the  second 
story  window  and  called  out,  "Is  that  you,  Major? 
What  news?"  "Good  news,"  was  the  answer. 
Stanton  shouted  "Hurrah,"  and  Eckert  says  he 
could  hear  Mrs.  Stanton  and  the  children  also 
shouting  "Hurrah." 

The  Secretary  appeared  at  the  front  door  in  a 
few  moments  and  rode  with  Eckert  to  the  White 
House.  Eckert  says  he  will  never  forget  the  tall, 
ghostly  form  of  Lincoln  in  his  night-dress,  with  a 
lighted  candle  in  his  hand,  as  he  appeared  at  the 
head  of  the  second  story  landing  when  the  two 
callers  were  ushered  up-stairs  by  the  doorkeeper. 
The  President  was,  of  course,  highly  delighted  to 
receive  the  news  of  Thomas's  victory. 

While  in  the  ambulance  with  Secretary  Stan- 
ton  on  his  way  to  the  White  House,  Eckert  took 
out  of  his  pocket  Grant's  last  order  relieving 
Thomas  and  handed  it  to  Stanton  without  saying 
a  word.  The  Secretary  asked  whether  it  had  been 
sent.  Eckert  replied,  no,  that  he  had  held  it  on 
his  own  responsibility,  partly  because  the  wires 
were  not  working  well  at  the  time  he  received  it 
from  Grant,  and  partly  because  he  wanted  to 
hear  further  from  VanDuzer,  and  he  hoped  to 
receive  later  information  that  the  weather  had 

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LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

moderated,  thus  allowing  Thomas  to  begin  his 
advance.  The  Major  added:  "Mr.  Secretary,  I 
fear  that  I  have  violated  a  military  rule  and  have 
placed  myself  liable  to  be  court-martialed."  Sec 
retary  Stanton  put  his  arm  around  Eckert's 
shoulder  and  said,  "Major,  if  they  court-martial 
you,  they  will  have  to  court-martial  me.  You  are 
my  confidential  assistant,  and  in  my  absence 
were  empowered  to  act  in  all  telegraph  matters 
as  if  you  were  the  Secretary  of  War.  The  result 
shows  you  did  right."  While  at  the  White  House 
Stanton  showed  Grant's  last  order  removing 
Thomas  to  the  President  and  told  him  Eckert 
had  suppressed  it.  Lincoln  replied  that  Eckert's 
action  met  with  his  hearty  approval. 

Meantime  a  copy  of  VanDuzer's  telegram  had 
been  sent  to  Willard's  Hotel  and  upon  its  receipt, 
Grant  handed  it  to  Beck  with  with  the  remark,  "I 
guess  we  will  not  go  to  Nashville."  He  then 
wrote  the  following  telegram: 

Washington,  D.  C.,  December  15,  1864,  11:30  P.M. 
MAJOR-GENERAL  THOMAS,  Nashville,  Tenn. :  I  was  just 
on  my  way  to  Nashville,  but  receiving  dispatch  from  Van- 
Duzer,  detailing  your  splendid  success  of  to-day,  I  shall  go 
no  farther.  ...  U.  S.  GRANT,  Lieutenant-General. 

Shortly  afterward  Grant  received  a  long  de- 

318 


GRANTS  ORDERS  REMOVING  THOMAS 

spatch  from  Thomas,  from  which  the  following 
extracts  are  taken: 

Nashville,  Tenn.,  December  15,  1864,  9  P.M. 
Received  1 1 :25  P.M. 

MAJ.-GEN.  H.  W.  HALLECK,  Washington,  D.  C.:  I  at 
tacked  the  enemy's  left  this  morning  and  drove  it  from  the 
river  below  the  city  .  .  .  about  8  miles.  Have  captured 
.  .  .  1000  prisoners  and  16  pieces  of  artillery  ...  I  shall 
attack  the  enemy  again  to-morrow  .  .  .  GEO.  H.  THOMAS. 

Major-General  U.  S.  Vols.  Commanding. 

Grant  then  sent  the  following  telegrams : 

Washington,  D.  C.,  December  15,  1864,  11:45  P.M. 
MAJOR-GENERAL  THOMAS,  Nashville,  Tenn.:  Your  dis 
patch  of  this  evening  just  received.  I  congratulate  you  and 
the  army  under  your  command  for  to-day's  operations  and 
feel  a  conviction  that  to-morrow  will  add  more  fruits  to 
your  victory.  U.  S.  GRANT,  Lieutenant-General. 

Washington,  D.  C.,  December  15,  1864,  11 :50  P.M. 
BRIG. -GEN.  J.  A.  RAWLINS,  City  Point,  Va.:  I  send  you 
dispatch  just  received  from  Nashville  [Thomas  to  Halleck]. 
I   shall  not  now  go  there.     Will  remain  absent,  however, 
until  about  Monday.      U.  S.  GRANT,  Lieutenant-General. 

When  Lincoln  came  to  the  telegraph  office  the 
next  morning,  he  sent  the  following  fine  despatch 
to  Thomas: 

319 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

Washington,  D.  C.,  December  16,  1864,  11:25  A.M. 
MAJOR-GENERAL  THOMAS,  Nashville,  Tenn. :  Please  ac 
cept  for  yourself,  officers,  and  men,  the  nation's  thanks  for 
your  good  work  of  yesterday.  You  made  a  magnificent  be 
ginning.  A  grand  consummation  is  within  your  easy  reach. 
Do  not  let  it  slip.  A.  LINCOLN. 

Logan  heard  of  Thomas's  great  victory  at 
Louisville  and  sent  this  message : 

Louisville ,  Ky.f  December  17,  1864,  10  A.M. 
LT.-GENERAL  U.  S.  GRANT,  Burlington,  N.  J.:  Have  just 
arrived.  .  .     People  here  jubilant  over   Thomas's   success 
...   It  would  seem  best  that  I  return  to  join  my  command 
with  Sherman.  JNO.  A.  LOGAN,  Major-General. 

In  consequence  of  the  great  victory  over  Hood, 
Secretary  Stanton,  on  December  19,  urged 
Thomas's  appointment  as  major-general  in  the 
regular  army,  but  Grant,  apparently  still  inimi 
cal  to  Thomas,  wired  Stanton,  December  20 : 

I  think  Thomas  has  won  the  maj  or-generalcy,  but  I 
would  wait  a  few  days  before  giving  it,  to  see  the  extent  of 
damages  done.  .  .  . 

The  later  reports  from  Thomas,  however,  were 
so  very  gratifying  that  Grant  could  no  longer 
withhold  his  approval,  and  on  December  24, 1864, 

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GRANT'S  ORDERS  REMOVING  THOMAS 

Thomas  received  his  commission  as  major-general 
in  the  regular  army  to  date  from  December  15. 

In  this  connection,  it  is  of  interest  to  note  that 
in  February,  1868,  President  Johnson  offered  to 
appoint  Thomas,  lieutenant-general  of  the 
army.  Thomas  telegraphed  the  President  from 
Pittsburg  declining  the  high  honor,  and  stating 
that  he  "had  done  nothing  since  the  Civil  War  to 
merit  the  compliment,  and  it  was  too  long  after 
the  war  to  consider  the  appointment  as  a  reward 
for  anything  he  had  done  during  the  war." 

When  Thomas  made  a  visit  to  Washington  in 
the  summer  of  1865,  Secretary  Stanton  sent 
Eckert  to  the  depot  to  meet  him  and  bring  him  to 
the  War  Department  in  Stanton's  own  carriage, 
sending  his  baggage  to  his  house,  where  Thomas 
was  invited  to  stay  while  in  the  capital.  When 
Thomas  entered  Stanton's  office  the  latter 
greeted  him  most  cordially  and  after  discussing 
the  battle  of  Nashville  and  the  incidents  referred 
to  above,  Stanton  produced  Grant's  third  and  last 
order  of  December  15,  1864,  removing  Thomas 
from  his  command,  and  then  turning  to  Eckert 
said,  "This  is  the  man  who  withheld  that  order 
and  saved  you  from  the  mortification  of  a  sum 
mary  removal." 

321 


XXIV 

THE  ABORTIVE  PEACE  CONFERENCE  AT 
HAMPTON  ROADS 

VERY  little  has  ever  been  published  concern 
ing  the  only  Peace  Conference  to  which 
this  country  was  a  party,  at  which  our  Govern 
ment  was  represented  by  the  President  in  person 
and  also  by  the  Secretary  of  State — and  that  lit 
tle  is  comprised  in  a  few  brief  letters  and  tele 
grams  submitted  to  Congress  by  Lincoln  in  re 
sponse  to  a  resolution  calling  for  information  on 
the  subject.  Of  what  actually  took  place  at  the 
conference  itself  (February  3,  1865),  Lincoln 
gave  an  account  in  these  few  lines : 

On  the  morning  of  the  3d,  the  three  gentlemen,  Messrs. 
Stephens,  Hunter,  and  Campbell,  came  aboard  of  our 
steamer,  and  had  an  interview  with  the  Secretary  of  State 
and  myself,  of  several  hours'  duration.  No  question  of 
preliminaries  to  the  meeting  was  then  and  there  made  or 
mentioned.  No  other  person  was  present;  no  papers  were 
exchanged  or  produced;  and  it  was,  in  advance,  agreed  that 
the  conversation  was  to  be  informal  and  verbal  merely. 

On  our  part  the  whole  substance  of  the  instructions  to 
the  Secretary  of  State,  hereinbefore  recited,  was  stated  and 
insisted  upon,  and  nothing  was  said  inconsistent  therewith; 

322 


PEACE  CONFERENCE  AT  HAMPTON  ROADS 

while,  by  the  other  party,  it  was  not  said  that  in  any  event 
or  on  any  condition,  they  ever  would  consent  to  reunion; 
and  yet  they  equally  omitted  to  declare  that  they  never 
would  so  consent.  They  seemed  to  desire  a  postponement 
of  that  question,  and  the  adoption  of  some  other  course  first 
which,  as  some  of  them  seemed  to  argue,  might  or  might 
not  lead  to  reunion;  but  which  course,  we  thought,  would 
amount  to  an  indefinite  postponement.  The  conference 
ended  without  result. 

The  foregoing,  containing  as  is  believed  all  the  informa 
tion  sought,  is  respectfully  submitted. 

There  was  also  a  preliminary  conference  with 
the  Confederate  commissioners  at  which  the 
President  was  represented  by  Major  Eckert,  and 
of  what  occurred  at  that  conference  beyond  the 
formal  exchange  of  letters  no  account  whatever 
has  been  given  to  the  public.  In  fact,  Eckert's 
reticence  in  regard  to  all  confidential  Civil  War 
matters  with  which  he  had  to  do  has  been  so 
marked  as  justly  to  entitle  him  to  the  sobriquet 
of  the  "Silent  Eckert"  bestowed  upon  him  by 
Major  Johnson,  Stanton's  private  secretary. 
However,  after  the  lapse  of  more  than  forty 
years,  Eckert  has  unlocked  his  memory-box  and 
brought  to  light  some  incidents  of  the  Civil  War 
drama  in  which  he  played  an  important,  though 
subordinate  part  in  relation  to  Lincoln,  the  prin 
cipal  actor. 

323 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

One  of  these  incidents  has  for  its  subject  the 
Peace  Conference  at  City  Point  and  Hampton 
Roads  of  February,  1865.  Following  the  re 
election  of  Lincoln  in  November,  1864,  the  peace 
agitators  in  the  North  ceased  their  active  efforts 
and,  in  his  Annual  Message  to  Congress  on  De 
cember  6,  Lincoln  alluded  to  the  question  in  the 
briefest  manner  as  follows:  "In  stating  a  single 
condition  of  peace,  I  mean  simply  to  say,  that  the 
war  will  cease  on  the  part  of  the  Government 
whenever  it  shall  have  ceased  on  the  part  of  those 
who  began  it." 

This  postulate  referring  to  a  vital  subject 
could  not  have  been  stated  more  clearly,  or  in 
shorter  terms,  in  fact,  it  is  axiomatic.  Mr.  Fran 
cis  P.  Blair,  Sr.,  was  one  of  the  most  earnest  and 
unselfish  supporters  of  the  peace  movement. 
His  fine  old  residence  at  Silver  Spring,  Mary 
land,  not  far  from  where  the  battle  of  Fort 
Stevens  had  taken  place  the  previous  July,  was 
set  on  fire  by  Early's  artillery  and  was  later  con 
verted  into  a  hospital  for  our  wounded  soldiers,  a 
large  number  of  whom  were  thus  hospitably 
cared  for.  Blair  fancied  he  discerned  something 
between  the  President's  lines  in  reference  to 
peace,  and  made  the  latter  believe,  or  at  least 

324 


PEACE  CONFERENCE  AT  HAMPTON  ROADS 

hope,  that  if  given  the  opportunity  to  see  Davis 
in  person  he  could  work  out  a  plan  that  would 
meet  the  simple  conditions  named,  and  at  the 
same  time  enable  the  Confederate  leaders  to 
"save  their  faces." 

The  patient  Lincoln  trusted  his  old  political 
friend  and  believed  in  his  wisdom  and  skill;  and, 
unwilling  to  cast  aside  the  poorest  chance  to 
bring  the  war  to  an  end,  he  gave  Blair,  on  De 
cember  28,  1864,  a  safe  conduct  through  our 
lines  and  return,  against  the  protest,  however,  of 
Stanton.  Blair  was  soon  back  in  Washington 
with  a  letter  from  Davis,  dated  January  12, 
which  was  shown  to  the  President,  who  gave 
Blair  authority  to  say  to  Davis  that  he  had  been, 
and  should  continue  to  be  "ready  to  receive  any 
agent  whom  he  or  any  other  influential  person 
now  resisting  the  national  authority  may  infor 
mally  send  to  me  with  the  view  of  securing  peace 
to  our  common  country." 

This  allusion  to  "our  common  country"  was 
made  because  Davis  had  referred  in  his  letter  to 
"the  two  countries,"  an  idea  perhaps  suggested 
or  at  least  fostered  and  strengthened  in  Davis's 
mind  by  the  memory  of  Gladstone's  remarkable 
speech  at  Newcastle-upon-Tyne,  in  which  the 

20  325 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

dominant  British  Cabinet  Minister  spoke  of  Jef 
ferson  Davis  as  having  "created  not  only  an  army 
and  a  navy,  but  a  nation." 

Lincoln's  letter  to  Davis  (of  January  18, 
1865)  was  taken  to  Richmond  by  Blair  and  de 
livered  on  January  21.  On  the  28th  Blair  was 
again  in  Washington,  and  Davis  had  started  his 
three  commissioners,  Messrs.  Stephens,  Hunter, 
and  Campbell,  on  their  way  toward  Washington 
via  City  Point.  They  reached  our  lines  on  Janu 
ary  29,  but  were  not  permitted  to  enter;  General 
Ord,  in  the  temporary  absence  of  General  Grant, 
telegraphing  to  Washington  for  instructions. 
On  Grant's  return  to  his  headquarters,  January 
31,  he  received  a  communication  from  the  com 
missioners  dated  Petersburg,  January  30,  which 
he  forwarded  to  Washington;  but  before  his 
despatch  was  received,  the  President,  upon  Stan- 
ton's  suggestion,  had  already  selected  as  his  rep 
resentative  to  meet  the  Confederate  agents,  Ma 
jor  Eckert,  who  had  a  personal  acquaintance 
with  one  of  them.1  The  instructions  to  Lincoln's 
ambassador  on  this  mission  were  as  follows : 

1  Stephens  had  saved  Eckert  from  the  hands  of  a  Southern  mob 
in  July,  1861,  as  related  in  chapter  IX.  When  Eckert  told  Lincoln 
of  this  incident  the  latter  said  that  he  remembered  Stephens  in 
Congress  and  believed  him  to  be  a  fair  man. 

326 


PEACE  CONFERENCE  AT  HAMPTON  ROADS 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  January  30,  1865. 
Major  Thomas  T.  Eckert: 

SIR:  You  will  proceed  with  the  documents  placed  in 
your  hands,  and,  on  reaching  General  Ord,  will  deliver  him 
the  letter  addressed  to  him  by  the  Secretary  of  War;  then, 
by  General  Ord's  assistance,  procure  an  interview  with 
Messrs.  Stephens,  Hunter,  and  Campbell,  or  any  of  them. 
Deliver  to  him  or  them  the  paper  on  which  your  own  letter 
is  written.  Note  on  the  copy  which  you  retain  the  time  of 
delivery  and  to  whom  delivered.  Receive  their  answer  in 
writing,  waiting  a  reasonable  time  for  it,  and  which,  if  it 
contain  their  decision  to  come  through  without  further  con 
dition,  will  be  your  warrant  to  ask  General  Ord  to  pass 
them  through,  as  directed  in  the  letter  of  the  Secretary  of 
War  to  him.  If,  by  their  answer,  they  decline  to  come,  or 
propose  other  terms,  do  not  have  them  passed  through. 
And  this  being  your  whole  duty,  return  and  report  to  me. 
Yours  truly,  A.  LINCOLN. 

Observe  the  careful  wording  of  these  instruc 
tions.  To  the  average  man  it  would  seem  that  in 
view  of  the  experience,  ability,  and  proved  hon 
esty  of  Blair,  Lincoln  would  have  ordered  Grant 
to  pass  the  commissioners  through  the  lines  and 
thence  to  Washington,  or  at  least  that  he  would 
have  trusted  the  Lieutenant-General  of  the  army 
to  meet  them  and  learn  whether  their  credentials 
came  within  the  scope  of  Lincoln's  clearly  ex 
pressed  conditions.  But  the  subject  was  so  com 
plicated  and  so  fraught  with  contingent  dangers, 
and  Stanton  was  so  strenuous  in  his  objections  to 

327 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

the  whole  scheme,  that  only  Lincoln  himself  or 
some  one  fresh  from  his  councils  who  possessed 
his  absolute  confidence  could  be  trusted  to  meet 
the  shrewd  and  wily  emissaries.  He  did  not  des 
ignate  a  member  of  his  cabinet  for  the  respon 
sible  service,  but  selected  the  Chief  of  the  War 
Department  telegraph  staff. 

Mr.  Robert  T.  Lincoln  in  a  letter  dated  June 
22,  1907,  writes  as  follows: 

"After  the  visit  of  Mr.  F.  P.  Blair,  Sr.,  to  Rich 
mond,  an  effort  was  made  by  some  gentlemen, 
sent  by  Mr.  Davis  from  Richmond,  to  come 
through  our  lines  and  proceed  to  Washington 
for  an  interview  with  my  father.  It  is  a  well 
known  matter,  of  course,  which  occurred  in  Jan 
uary,  1865.  I  remember  my  father  telling  me 
one  evening  all  that  had  occurred  up  to  that  time 
in  the  matter,  and  his  indicating  to  me  that  he 
was  not  feeling  quite  comfortable  as  to  the  way 
in  which  the  matter  was  being  handled  at  army 
headquarters  at  City  Point;  and  that,  therefore, 
he  had  that  day  sent  'Tom  Eckert,'  as  he  affec 
tionately  called  him,  with  written  instructions,  to 
handle  the  whole  matter  of  the  application  of 
these  visitors  from  Mr.  Davis  to  get  into  our 
lines.  He  said  that  he  had  selected  'Tom  Eck- 

328 


PEACE  CONFERENCE  AT  HAMPTON  ROADS 

erf  for  this  business  because — to  use  his  lan 
guage  as  nearly  as  I  can  remember  it— 'he  never 
failed  to  do  completely  what  was  given  him  to  do, 
and  to  do  it  in  the  most  complete  and  tactful 
manner,  and  to  refrain  from  doing  anything  out 
side  which  would  hurt  his  mission.'  He  was  so 
emphatic  in  expressing  this  reason  for  sending 
Eckert  that  it  made  a  deep  impression  upon  me, 
and  I  never  see  General  Eckert  without  thinking 
of  it." 

Meantime,  in  expectation  that  the  Confederate 
commissioners  would  not  hesitate  to  accept  the 
conditions  outlined  in  his  January  18  letter,  Lin 
coln  had  sent  Secretary  Seward  to  Fort  Monroe 
with  the  following  instructions : 

Executive  Mansion ,  Washington,  January  31,  1865. 
HON.  WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD,  Secretary  of  State: 

You  will  proceed  to  Fort  Monroe,  Virginia,  there  to  meet 
and  informally  confer  with  Messrs.  Stephens,  Hunter,  and 
Campbell,  on  the  basis  of  my  letter  to  F.  P.  Blair,  Esq.,  of 
January  18,  1865,  a  copy  of  which  you  have.  You  will 
make  known  to  them  that  three  things  are  indispensable, 
to  wit: 

1.  The  restoration  of  the  national  authority  throughout 
all  the  States. 

2.  No  receding  by  the  executive  of  the  United  States 
on  the  slavery  question  from  the  position  assumed  thereon 
in  the  late  annual  message  to  Congress,  and  in  preceding 
documents. 

329 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

3.  No  cessation  of  hostilities  short  of  an  end  of  the  war, 
and  the  disbanding  of  all  forces  hostile  to  the  government. 

You  will  inform  them  that  all  propositions  of  theirs,  not 
inconsistent  with  the  above,  will  be  considered  and  passed 
upon  in  a  spirit  of  sincere  liberality.  You  will  hear  all 
they  may  choose  to  say,  and  report  it  to  me.  You  will  not 
assume  to  definitely  consummate  anything.  Yours,  etc., 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

Eckert  left  Washington  January  31,  reaching 
City  Point  the  following  afternoon,  and  at 
10  P.M.  forwarded  this  despatch: 

City  Point,  Virginia,  February  1,  1865,  10  P.M. 
His   EXCELLENCY   A.   LINCOLN,   President   of  the   United 

States : 

I  have  the  honor  to  report  the  delivery  of  your  communi 
cation  and  my  letter  at  4.15  this  afternoon,  to  which  I  re 
ceived  a  reply  at  6  P.M.  but  not  satisfactory. 

At  8  P.M.  the  following  note,  addressed  to  General  Grant, 
was  received: 

"City  Point,  Virginia,  February  1,  1865. 
""Lieutenant-General  Grant : 

"Sin:  We  desire  to  go  to  Washington  city  to  confer  in 
formally  with  the  President,  personally,  in  reference  to  the 
matters  mentioned  in  his  letter  to  Mr.  Blair,  of  the  18th  of 
January,  ultimo,  without  any  personal  compromise  on  any 
question  in  the  letter.  We  have  the  permission  to  do  so  from 
the  authorities  in  Richmond. 
"Very  respectfully  yours, 

"ALEX.    H.    STEPHENS, 
"R.  M.  T.  HUNTER, 
"J.  A.  CAMPBELL." 

330 


PEACE  CONFERENCE  AT  HAMPTON  ROADS 

At  9.30  P.M.,  I  notified  them  that  they  could  not  proceed 
further  unless  they  complied  with  the  terms  expressed  in 
my  letter.  The  point  of  meeting  designated  in  above  note 
would  not;  in  my  opinion,,  be  insisted  upon.  Think  Fort 
Monroe  would  be  acceptable.  Having  complied  with  my 
instructions,  I  will  return  to  Washington  to-morrow  unless 
otherwise  ordered.  THOS.  T.  ECKERT,  Major,  etc. 


When  Lincoln  received  Eckert's  telegram 
stating  that  the  reply  of  the  Confederate  com 
missioners  was  "not  satisfactory"  he  felt  that  as 
they  were  unwilling,  or  unable,  to  meet  the  pre 
scribed  conditions  it  was  useless  to  do  anything 
further  in  the  matter,  and  he  therefore  decided  to 
recall  both  Seward  and  Eckert;  but  before  doing 
so  the  following  cipher-despatch,  timed  a  half 
hour  later  than  Eckert's,  was  received: 

City  Point,  Virginia,  February  1,  1865,  10.30  P.M. 
HON.  EDWIN  M.  STANTON,  Secretary  of  War: 

Now  that  the  interview  between  Major  Eckert,  under  his 
written  instructions,  and  Mr.  Stephens  and  party  has  ended, 
I  will  state  confidentially,  but  not  officially — to  become  a  mat 
ter  of  record — that  I  am  convinced,  upon  conversation  with 
Messrs.  Stephens  and  Hunter,  that  their  intentions  are  good 
and  their  desire  sincere  to  restore  peace  and  union.  I  have 
not  felt  myself  at  liberty  to  express  even  views  of  my  own, 
or  to  account  for  my  reticency.  This  has  placed  me  in  an 
awkward  position,  which  I  could  have  avoided  by  not  seeing 
them  in  the  first  instance.  I  fear  now  their  going  back 

331 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

without  any  expression  from  any  one  in  authority  will  have 
a  bad  influence.  At  the  same  time,  I  recognize  the  difficul 
ties  in  the  way  of  receiving  these  informal  commissioners 
at  this  time,  and  do  not  know  what  to  recommend.  I  am 
sorry,  however,  that  Mr.  Lincoln  cannot  have  an  interview 
with  the  two  named  in  this  despatch,  if  not  all  three  now 
within  our  lines.  Their  letter  to  me  was  all  that  the  Presi 
dent's  instructions  contemplated  to  secure  their  safe-con 
duct,  if  they  had  used  the  same  language  to  Major  Eckert. 
U.  S.  GRANT,  Lieutenant-General. 

Lincoln  therefore  wisely  determined  to  go  in 
person  to  meet  the  commissioners,1  and  accord 
ingly  left  for  Hampton  Roads  about  noon,  Feb 
ruary  2.  On  his  arrival  late  that  night  he  found 
things  in  statu  quo.  Lincoln  adds,  in  his  ex 
planation  to  Congress,  "Here  I  ascertained  that 
Major  Eckert  had  literally  complied  with  his 
instructions,  and  I  saw,  for  the  first  time,  the  an 
swer  of  the  Richmond  gentlemen  to  him,  which, 
in  his  despatch  to  me  of  the  1st,  he  characterizes 
as  'not  satisfactory.' ' 

The  following  are  the  communications  ex 
changed  between  Eckert  and  the  Richmond  gen 
tlemen  at  the  preliminary  conference  at  City 
Point: 

1  They  had  meantime  informed  Grant  of  their  willingness  to  accept 
Lincoln's  conditions  and  had  proceeded  to  Hampton  Roads  to  await 
the  President's  arrival. 

332 


PEACE  CONFERENCE  AT  HAMPTON  ROADS 

Messrs.  Alex.  H.  Stephens,  J.  A.  Campbell  and  R.  M.  T. 

Hunter, 

GENTLEMEN:  —  I  am  instructed  by  the  President  of  the 
United  States  to  place  this  paper  in  your  hands,  with  the 
information  that  if  you  pass  through  the  United  States  mil 
itary  lines.,  it  will  be  understood  that  you  do  so  for  the  pur 
pose  of  an  informal  conference  on  the  basis  of  the  letter,  a 
copy  of  which  is  on  the  reverse  side  of  this  sheet,  and  that, 
if  you  choose  to  pass  on  such  understanding,  and  so  notify 
me  in  writing,  I  will  procure  the  commanding  general  to  pass 
you  through  the  lines  and  to  Fortress  Monroe,  under  such 
military  precautions  as  he  may  deem  prudent,  and  at  which 
place  you  will  be  met  in  due  time  by  some  person  or  persons, 
for  the  purpose  of  such  informal  conference.  And,  further, 
that  you  shall  have  protection,  safe-conduct,  and  safe  return 
in  all  events. 

THOMAS  T.  ECKERT,  Major  and  Aide-de-camp. 
City  Point,  Virginia,  February  1,  1865. 

Washington,  January  18,  1865. 
F  .  P.  Blair, 


SIR:  You  having  shown  me  Mr.  Davis's  letter  to  you  of 
the  12th  instant,  you  may  say  to  him  that  I  have  constantly 
been,  am  now,  and  shall  continue  ready  to  receive  any  agent 
whom  he,  or  any  other  influential  person  now  resisting  the 
national  authority,  may  informally  send  to  me,  with  the  view 
of  securing  peace  to  the  people  of  our  one  common  country. 
Yours,  etc.  A.  LINCOLN. 

City  Point,  Virginia,  February  1,  1865. 
Thomas  T.  Eckert,  Major  and  Aide-de-camp, 

MAJOR:  Your  note,  delivered  by  yourself  this  day,  has 
been  considered.  In  reply,  we  have  to  say  that  we  were 
furnished  with  a  copy  of  the  letter  of  President  Lincoln  to 
Francis  P.  Blair,  Esq.,  of  the  18th  of  January,  ultimo,  an- 

333 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

other  copy  of  which  is  appended  to  your  note.  Our  in 
structions  are  contained  in  a  letter,  of  which  the  following 
is  a  copy: 

"Richmond,  January  28,  1865. 

"In  conformity  with  the  letter  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  of  which 
the  foregoing  is  a  copy,  you  are  to  proceed  to  Washington 
city  for  informal  conference  with  him  upon  the  issues  in 
volved  in  the  existing  war,  and  for  the  purpose  of  securing 
peace  to  the  two  countries. 

"With  great  respect,  your  obedient  servant, 

"JEFFERSON  DAVIS." 

The  substantial  object  to  be  obtained  by  the  informal 
conference  is  to  ascertain  upon  what  terms  the  existing  war 
can  be  terminated  honorably. 

Our  instructions  contemplate  a  personal  interview  be 
tween  President  Lincoln  and  ourselves  at  Washington  city, 
but  with  this  explanation  we  are  ready  to  meet  any  person 
or  persons  that  President  Lincoln  may  appoint,  at  such 
place  as  he  may  designate.  Our  earnest  desire  is  that  a 
just  and  honorable  peace  may  be  agreed  upon,  and  we  are 
prepared  to  receive  or  to  submit  propositions  which  may, 
possibly,  lead  to  the  attainment  of  that  end. 

Very  respectfully  yours,         ALEXANDER  H.  STEPHENS, 

R.  M.  T.  HUNTER, 
JOHN  A.  CAMPBELL. 

And  now  we  come  to  Eckert's  account,  given 
to  me  in  conversation  in  the  spring  of  1907,  of 
what  took  place  at  his  interviews  with  the  three 
Confederate  Peace  Commissioners  at  City  Point 
on  February  1,  1865,  on  board  the  steamer 

334 


PEACE  CONFERENCE  AT  HAMPTON  ROADS 

River  Queen,  the  only  persons  present  being 
Stephens,  Hunter,  Campbell  and  Eckert. 

"Quite  a  little  time,"  he  says,  "was  occupied  by 
Stephens  asking  me  how  I  was,  what  I  had  been 
doing,  etc.,  because  he  had  met  me  before  in  1861 
and  knew  my  cousin  George  in  Congress.  I  sat 
between  Stephens  and  Hunter.  Stephens  was 
very  civil  in  his  reception,  more  so  than  the 
others.  He  asked  if  they  might  not  begin  to  dis 
cuss  the  subject.  I  said  'Yes,  what  is  the  subject 
you  want  to  discuss  ?'  He  said,  'We  of  the  South 
lay  great  store  by  our  State  rights.'  I  turned  to 
him  and  said,  'Excuse  me,  but  we  in  the  North 
never  think  of  that,  we  cannot  discuss  that  sub 
ject  at  all.' 

"I  told  them  that  all  the  proceedings  of  the 
conference  must  be  in  writing.  I  then  sub 
mitted  a  copy  of  my  instructions  from  the  Presi 
dent  which  they  took  saying  they  would  like  to 
consider  it  and  reply  later.  Hunter  was  the  chief 
spokesman,  but  my  communications  were  al 
ways  to  Stephens,  his  name  being  the  first  on  the 
list  of  three.  Campbell  had  the  least  to  say.  He 
was,  however,  a  close  listener.  Before  the  con 
ference  we  came  very  near  getting  into  a  diffi 
culty  that  would  have  forced  me  to  have  done 

335 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

something  that  might  have  raised  a  row,  because 
General  Grant  wanted  to  be  a  party  to  the  con 
ference.  I  told  him  no.  I  said,  'You  are  the 
commanding  general  of  the  army.  If  you  make 
a  failure  or  say  anything  that  would  be  subject 
to  criticism  it  would  be  very  bad.  If  I  make  a 
mistake  I  am  nothing  but  a  common  business  man 
and  it  will  go  for  naught.  I  am  going  to  take 
the  responsibility,  and  I  advise  you  not  to  go  to 
the  conference.'  He  finally  said,  'Decency  would 
compel  me  to  go  and  see  them.'  I  said  that  for 
the  purpose  of  introduction  I  should  be  pleased 
to  have  him  go  with  me  but  not  until  after  I  had 
first  met  the  gentlemen.  Grant  was  vexed  with 
me  because  I  did  not  tell  him  exactly  what  my 
mission  was. 

"Grant  went  with  me  on  my  second  visit  a  few 
hours  later  and  after  he  was  introduced,  one  of  the 
commissioners,  I  am  sure  it  was  Hunter,  said  to 
Grant,  'We  do  not  seem  to  get  on  very  rapidly 
with  Major  Eckert.  We  are  very  anxious  to 
go  to  Washington,  and  Mr.  Lincoln  has  promised 
to  see  us  there.'  General  Grant  started  to  make 
reply  when  I  interrupted  him  and  said,  'Excuse 
me,  General  Grant,  you  are  not  permitted  to  say 
anything  officially  at  this  time,'  and  I  stopped 

336 


PEACE  CONFERENCE  AT  HAMPTON  ROADS 

him  right  there.  I  added,  'If  you  will  read  the  in 
structions  under  which  I  am  acting  you  will  see 
that  I  am  right.' 

"After  listening  a  while  to  what  the  commis 
sioners  were  saying  Grant  got  up  and  went  out. 
He  was  angry  with  me  for  years  afterward,  and 
this  has  been  a  source  of  sincere  regret  to  me,  be 
cause  in  his  responsible  position  as  commanding 
general  of  the  army  he  had  some  reason  for 
chagrin  at  the  action  of  a  mere  major  in  ques 
tioning  his  ranking  authority  in  the  presence  of 
representatives  of  the  government  whose  army 
he  was  fighting.  But  at  the  time  I  gave  no 
thought  to  this  feature  of  the  case,  remembering 
only  my  explicit  orders  written  and  oral  from  the 
President.  When  Grant  was  stopped  from  mak 
ing  a  reply  to  Hunter  he  and  the  other  commis 
sioners  doubtless  thought  that  if  they  could  have 
presented  the  matter  direct  to  Grant  they  would 
likely  get  his  approval.  This  view  is  sustained  by 
Grant's  telegram  of  10.30  P.M.,  February  1, 1865. 

"At  9.30  P.M.  I  informed  the  commissioners 
that  they  could  not  proceed  further  unless  they 
complied  with  the  terms  recited  in  my  letter  of 
instructions,  their  formal  reply  to  which  had 
been  delivered  to  me  at  our  earlier  interview  and 

337 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

to  inform  General  Grant  in  case  they  concluded 
to  accept  the  terms.  I  then  withdrew  and  sent 
my  cipher-despatch  to  President  Lincoln  dated 
10  P.M.  Feb.  1,  advising  him  that  the  reply  of  the 
Peace  Commissioners  was  'not  satisfactory.' 
The  originals  of  all  writings  at  this  conference 
with  the  three  commissioners  were  taken  to  Fort 
Monroe  and  handed  to  Secretary  Seward." 

One  of  the  dangers  that  Stanton  foresaw  in  the 
President's  meeting  with  the  Confederate  agents 
was  the  fear  that  Lincoln's  great  kindness  of 
heart  and  his  desire  to  end  the  war  might  lead  him 
to  make  some  admission  which  the  astute  South 
erners  would  wilfully  misconstrue  and  twist  to 
serve  their  purpose;  and  then  if  the  conference 
were  fruitless .  they  would  throw  the  burden  of 
failure  upon  the  President.  As  events  turned  out 
it  was  shown  that  Lincoln  was  fully  competent 
to  deal  with  the  ablest  and  most  adroit  politicians 
of  the  South.  Their  report  to  Davis  of  the  results 
of  the  conference  could  not  have  been  ambiguous 
if  we  may  judge  from  what  he  said  in  his  message 
to  the  Confederate  Congress  of  March  13,  1865, 
as  follows: 

Our  commissioners  were  informed  that  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  would  not  enter  into  any  agreement  or 

338 


PEACE  CONFERENCE  AT  HAMPTON  ROADS 

treaty  whatever  with  the  Confederate  States,  nor  with  any 
single  state,  and  that  the  only  possible  mode  of  obtaining 
peace  was  by  laying  down  our  arms,  disbanding  our  forces, 
and  yielding  unconditional  obedience  to  the  laws  of  the 
United  States,  including  those  passed  for  the  confiscation 
of  our  property  and  the  constitutional  amendment  for  the 
abolition  of  slavery.  It  will  further  be  remembered  that 
Mr.  Lincoln  declared  that  the  only  terms  on  which  hostilities 
could  cease  were  those  stated  in  his  message  of  December 
last,  in  which  we  were  informed  that  in  the  event  of  our  peni 
tent  submission,  he  would  temper  justice  with  mercy  and 
that  the  question  whether  we  would  be  governed  as  depen 
dent  territories,  or  permitted  to  have  a  representation  in 
their  Congress  was  one  on  which  he  could  promise  nothing 
but  which  would  be  decided  by  their  Congress  after  our  sub 
mission  had  been  accepted. 

We  may  conclude,  therefore,  that  the  main 
effect  of  the  Hampton  Roads  Peace  Conference 
was  the  demonstrating  to  Jefferson  Davis  and 
the  Southern  leaders  that  their  only  hope  of  suc 
cess  lay  in  Lee's  army,  which  even  then  was  fast 
diminishing  in  numbers  and  effectiveness,  and 
which  in  a  little  over  two  months  after  the  con 
ference  surrendered  to  Grant. 

The  news  of  the  visit  of  President  Lincoln  and 
Secretary  Seward  to  Hampton  Roads  to  meet 
the  Confederate  Peace  Commissioners  had  been 
spread  abroad  by  telegraph,  and  the  newspapers 
were  full  of  references  to  the  matter,  many  per- 

339 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

sons  believing,  and  all  hoping,  that  a  practical 
basis  of  settlement  would  be  reached  and  the  war 
soon  ended.  The  financial  market,  in  its  nervous 
expectancy,  reflected  the  wavering  opinions  and 
hopes  of  the  public,  and  if  the  meeting  had  re 
sulted  favorably,  there  would  have  been  instant 
response  on  the  gold  and  stock  exchanges  of  New 
York  and  elsewhere,  and  those  possessing  the 
earliest  news  would  be  able  to  buy  securities  and 
gold  and  make  large  profits. 

To  save  time,  the  President's  party  came  up 
the  Chesapeake  Bay,  instead  of  by  the  longer 
route  up  the  Potomac.  Secretary  Stanton  had 
provided  a  special  engine  and  car  to  meet  the 
party  at  Annapolis,  and  when  they  reached  the 
old  railroad  station,  the  platform  was  crowded 
with  people,  all  eager  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  the 
President.  In  the  crowd  there  were  many  news 
paper  reporters  interested  in  obtaining  definite 
news,  or  even  a  hint,  from  Lincoln,  Seward,  or 
Eckert,  as  to  the  outcome  of  the  momentous 
meeting.  On  the  platform  Eckert  recognized  an 
acquaintance,  who  managed  to  draw  him  aside 
and,  in  a  hurried  conversation,  which  he  said  must 
be  strictly  confidential,  asked  him  for  the  result 
of  the  conference,  at  the  same  time  placing  in  his 

340 


PEACE  CONFERENCE  AT  HAMPTON  ROADS 

hands  an  envelop,  saying  that  the  contents 
would  recompense  him  for  his  trouble. 

After  some  parleying,  Eckert  returned  to  the 
car,  and  in  Lincoln's  presence  opened  the  en 
velop  and  showed  him  a  certified  check  for 
$100,000,  telling  him  how  it  came  into  his  hands. 
Lincoln  asked  who  gave  it  to  him. 

Eckert  replied:  "I  am  not  at  liberty  to  say,  but 
when  the  train  is  ready  to  leave,  I  will  be  on  the 
platform,  and  hand  the  envelop  to  the  man  from 
whom  I  received  it,  so  that  you  can  see  who  he  is." 
This  was  done,  Eckert  telling  the  man  that  he 
was  obliged  to  decline  the  offer,  and  could  give 
him  no  news  of  the  conference.  Lincoln  saw  the 
transaction,  and  recognized  the  man  as  one  promi 
nent  in  political  affairs,  and  who  had  held  a  re 
sponsible  official  position  in  one  of  the  western 
States. 

Upon  returning  to  the  car,  Lincoln  remained 
silent  for  a  long  time,  but  afterward,  when  he  and 
Eckert  could  converse  together  without  attract 
ing  Seward's  special  attention,  or  that  of  Robert 
S.  Chew,  his  private  secretary,  the  only  other 
occupants  of  the  car,  it  was  agreed  that  neither 
should  disclose  the  incident  to  any  one  excepting 
only  Secretary  Stanton,  Eckert  contending  that 
21  341 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

the  effect  on  public  opinion  generally,  and  espec 
ially  as  it  related  to  the  Administration,  of  an  an 
nouncement  of  such  an  offer  having  been  made, 
would  be  very  injurious  at  a  time  of  such  extreme 
tension,  and  that  if  the  public  were  to  learn  of  the 
failure  of  the  Peace  Conference  without  at  the 
same  time  receiving  Lincoln's  own  clear  explana 
tion,  they  would  be  inclined  to  criticize  him  for 
having  once  more  defeated  possibly  well-meant 
efforts  to  bring  the  war  to  an  end. 

Upon  reaching  Washington,  Secretary  Sew- 
ard's  carriage  took  him  direct  to  his  home,  while 
Eckert  rode  in  the  President's  carriage.  At  the 
White  House  they  met  Stanton,  and  gave  him  a 
full  account  of  the  recent  Peace  Conference,  and 
also  of  the  incident  of  the  certified  check,  and  all 
three  agreed  that,  for  obvious  reasons,  they  would 
keep  the  affair  strictly  confidential  between  them 
selves.  It  is  believed  that  no  mention  of  the  inci 
dent  has  ever  been  made  prior  to  the  account 
which  appeared  in  "The  Century  Magazine"  for 
May,  1907,  nor  has  the  name  of  the  person  who 
made  the  offer  ever  been  disclosed. 


342 


XXV 


LINCOLN'S  LAST  DAYS 


DURING  the  last  three  weeks  of  Lincoln's 
life,  that  brief  period  in  which  at  last  he 
felt  slipping  from  his  shoulders  the  burden  that 
for  four  years  had  pressed  so  heavily  upon  him,  he 
could  anticipate  in  the  near  future  a  happy,  re 
united  country.  What  gladness  must  have  filled 
his  heart  as  with  Mrs.  Lincoln  and  his  beloved 
Tad  he  journeyed  down  the  quiet  Potomac  and 
up  the  placid  James!  He  had  received  word 
from  Grant  of  his  purpose  to  close  in  upon  Lee 
and  bring  the  war  to  an  end,  and  then  followed 
this  despatch,  dated  March  20 : 

His  EXCELLENCY  A.  LINCOLN:  Can  you  not  visit  City 
Point  for  a  day  or  two  ?     I  would  like  very  much  to  see  you, 
and  I  think  the  rest  would  do  you  good. 
Respectfully  yours,  etc., 

U.  S.  GRANT,  Lieutenant-General. 

He  eagerly  responded  to  the  call  and  started 
on   the   River   Queen,   convoyed    by   the   little 

343 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

steamer  Bat,  Thursday,  March  23,  arriving  at 
City  Point  the  following  evening. 

Grant  directed  Beckwith,  his  cipher-operator, 
to  report  to  the  President  and  keep  him  in  touch 
by  telegraph  with  the  army  in  its  advance  move 
ment,  and  with  the  War  Department  at  Wash 
ington.  It  may,  therefore,  be  truthfully  said  that 
for  the  next  two  weeks  out  of  the  three  remaining 
to  him,  Lincoln  lived  "in  the  telegraph  office,"  for 
he  and  Beckwith  were  almost  inseparable  and  the 
wires  were  kept  busy  with  despatches  to  and  from 
the  President.  Beckwith's  tent  adjoined  the 
larger  tent  of  Colonel  Bowers,  which  Lincoln 
made  his  headquarters. 

It  was  by  telegraph  on  Monday,  after  reach 
ing  City  Point,  that  Lincoln  indorsed  Stan- 
ton's  order  of  exercises  to  be  observed  at  Fort 
Sumter  on  the  anniversary  of  its  surrender,  in 
which  many  notable  persons,  including  Colonel 
Robert  Anderson,  Admiral  Dahlgren,  Assistant 
Adjutant-General  Townsend,  Captain  Gustavus 
V.  Fox,  the  Rev.  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  the  Rev. 
R.  S.  Storrs,  and  others  were  to  participate. 

The  following  telegram  shows  Lincoln's  close 
attention  to  details  and  the  tenacity  of  his  mem 
ory: 

344 


LINCOLN'S  LAST  DAYS 

City  Point,  Va.,  March  27,  1865,  3:35  P.M. 
Hox.  SECRETARY  OF  WAR,  Washington,  D.  C. : 

Yours  enclosing  Fort  Sumter  order  received.  I  think  of 
but  one  suggestion.  I  feel  quite  confident  that  Sumter  fell 
on  the  13th,  and  not  on  the  14th  of  April,  as  you  have  it. 
It  fell  on  Saturday,  the  13th;  the  first  call  for  troops  on 
our  part  was  got  up  on  Sunday,,  the  14th,  and  given  date 
and  issued  on  Monday,  the  15th.  Look  up  the  old  almanac 
and  other  data  and  see  if  I  am  not  right.  A.  LINCOLN. 

The  President's  recollection  was  correct,  as  the 
records  proved.  Another  illustration  of  Lincoln's 
aptitude  for  fixing  dates  is  shown  in  his  remark 
one  day  that  it  was  his  habit  to  fasten  in  his  mind 
the  name  of  the  week-day  on  which  the  month 
came  in,  as  he  was  thus  reminded  that  the  15th 
and  29th  occurred  on  the  same  day  of  the  week. 
He  then  looked  forward  to  the  first  day  of  the 
following  month  as  falling  on  a  certain  day  of  the 
week,  and  so  on  through  the  whole  year. 

On  the  night  of  Grant's  general  advance 
against  Lee  there  was  a  severe  thunder-storm, 
rain  falling  in  torrents,  with  blinding  lightning 
flashes.  Grant  had  not  intended  the  grand  move 
ment  to  begin  until  later,  but  when  the  storm 
broke  he  quickly  decided  that  one  effect  would  be 
to  drive  the  enemy  to  cover  wherever  possible,  and 
so  he  told  his  cipher-operator  at  the  front,  A.  H. 

345 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

Caldwell,  to  transmit  the  order  that  had  already 
been  prepared  for  the  purpose,  addressed  to 
Meade,  Sheridan,  and  the  corps  commanders, 
directing  them  to  begin  the  advance  at  once, 
simultaneously  at  all  points,  without  regard  to  the 
violent  storm  then  raging.  Grant  sent  an  addi 
tional  telegram  to  each  commander  containing 
these  four  words  only:  "Let  the  fur  fly."  Cald 
well  retained  in  his  possession  this  laconic  de 
spatch  in  Grant's  handwriting,  and,  so  far  as 
known,  it  has  not  been  heretofore  published.  In 
May,  1865,  when  Caldwell  was  in  charge  of  the 
Richmond  telegraph  office,  he  exhibited  the 
original  to  Mr.  William  H.  Eckert,  now  of  New 
York,  who  recently  told  me  of  the  incident. 

Mrs.  Lincoln  remained  at  City  Point  one  week, 
returning  to  Washington  on  April  1,  leaving  lit 
tle  Tad  with  his  father.  Grant's  forward  move 
ment  progressed  so  well  that  on  Sunday  morning 
the  President  telegraphed  to  Mrs.  Lincoln  some 
details  of  our  great  success.  The  original  is  shown 
in  facsimile  on  page  347. 1 

Upon  Lincoln's  arrival  at  City  Point,  March 
24,  Grant  had  offered  him  the  choice  of  his  two 

1  Mrs.  Lincoln  came  back  to  City  Point  on  April  6,  with  Senators 
Simmer  and  Harlan  and  Mrs.  Harlan  and  made  a  trip  to  Richmond. 

346 


LINCOLN'S  LAST  DAYS 

favorite  horses,  "Cincinnati"  and  "Little  Jeff." 
Lincoln  selected  the  former,  being  the  larger  of 


(guards  Brinies  of  ilw  Iftnitd 


/  /=?£,   «^f2^ 
/V-^    ^6, 


^//^^<^a^^j 

Facsimile  (reduced)  of  Lincoln's  despatch  to  Mrs.  Lincoln 
of  7:45  P.  M.,  April  2,  1865 

the  two,  as  better  suited  to  his  tall  form,  and  dur 
ing  his  stay  he  frequently  rode  Cincinnati  around 
the  camp.  He  was  a  good  rider  and  greatly  en- 

347 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

joyed  this  recreation,  and  when  Grant  went  to  the 
front  to  personally  direct  the  general  assault 
upon  Lee's  army  along  a  line  of  over  thirty  miles, 
he  left  a  trusted  groom  in  charge  of  Cincinnati,  so 
that  if  the  movement  should  prove  successful,  the 
President  might  ride  out  to  the  front.  Cincinnati 
was  richly  caparisoned  with  all  the  Lieutenant- 
General's  embellishments  and  insignia  of  rank, 
and  although  the  President  did  not  fully  appre 
ciate  the  magnificence  of  his  mount,  he  admired 
the  splendid  action  of  the  matchless  war-horse. 

The  following  account  of  Cincinnati  and  Lit 
tle  Jeff,  two  of  Grant's  favorite  horses,  is  from 
Beckwith's  pen.  The  third  one  was  called  Egypt. 

"Grant's  famous  Kentucky  thoroughbred 
chestnut  gelding  'Cincinnati,'  was  presented  to 
him  in  the  hotel  at  St.  Louis  where  the  two 
Grants  met  for  the  first  time — by  chance. 

"The  Cincinnati  Grant  sent  his  card,  without 
explanation,  requesting  General  Grant  to  call  at 
his  room.  Quite  puzzled,  General  Grant  was  con 
ducted  to  his  namesake's  room,  where  the  mystery 
was  solved  by  the  sorry  grunting  of  a  wealthy 
invalid,  who  said:  'General,  I  have  a  horse  that  I 
shall  never  again  be  permitted  to  ride.  I  would 
not  sell  this  kind  and  beautiful  animal  to  any  one, 

348 


LINCOLN'S  LAST  DAYS 

but  your  appreciation  of  a  really  good  horse  in 
duces  me  to  offer  him  to  you  as  a  present.' 

"The  majestic  animal  reached  Chattanooga, 
richly  blanketed,  in  charge  of  a  groom,  in  Decem 
ber,  1863.  It  was  not,  however,  until  the  Wilder 
ness  Campaign,  that  *  Cincinnati'  became  filled 
with  the  martial  spirit  and  frantic  to  participate 
in  the  turmoil  of  battle.  In  quietude  this  famous 
animal  seemed  gentle  and  spiritless,  but  the  battle 
sounds  stirred  him  with  enthusiasm.  No  artist 
could  paint  the  beauty  of  this  horse  in  the  midst  of 
action,  when  the  curb  was  required  to  hold  him 
back;  and  this  was  the  horse  that  bore  Mr.  Lin 
coln  as  quietly  as  a  sheep  to  and  from  Petersburg, 
April  3,  1865. 

"  'Little  Jeff'  was  a  black,  shapely-limbed 
pony,  14  hands  high,  formerly  owned  by  Mrs. 
Jefferson  Davis,  and  was  captured  at  Grand 
Gulf,  Miss.,  in  the  early  part  of  1863.  A  proposi 
tion  at  Chattanooga  to  purchase  this  pony  re 
sulted  in  Grant's  response :  'We  shall  not  remain 
long  enough  for  you  to  require  a  purchase.  Ex 
ercise  any  one  of  my  horses  that  you  desire; 
they  '11  be  all  the  better  for  it.'  I  preferred  'Little 
Jeff'  to  'Egypt'  or  'Cincinnati,'  and  while  the 
pony  was  speeding,  his  carriage  was  so  perfect 

349 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

in  his  pace  that  I  could  have  threaded  a  needle. 
On  April  2, 1865,  the  Petersburg  line  was  broken, 
and  while  our  army  was  moving  on  in  pursuit  of 
Lee,  Grant  lingered  at  Petersburg  with  'Little 
Jeff/  impatiently  awaiting  Lincoln's  arrival.  He 
came  the  following  morning,  and  after  an  hour's 
conference  with  the  Lieutenant-General,  returned 
to  City  Point  on  'Cincinnati.'  This  was  Lincoln's 
last  horseback  ride.  Meantime,  'Little  Jeff,' 
carrying  Grant,  was  speeding  on  to  overtake  the 
pursuing  columns  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac. 
Grant  rode  'Little  Jeff'  through  the  Appomattox 
campaign,  as  he  had  also  done  at  Vicksburg,  and 
Chattanooga. 

"When  Grant  became  President  in  1869,  these 
two  faithful  animals  were  duly  installed  with 
honors  in  the  White  House  stables.  Subse 
quently  'Little  Jeff*  gave  Grant  an  occasional 
morning  ride,  but  I  never  witnessed  equally  me 
ritorious  distinction  for  'Cincinnati,'  whose  lofty 
spirit  was  demeaned  by  the  dragging  of  the 
White  House  carriage,  a  duty  which  he  so 
spurned  that  his  fretful  annoyance  gained  re 
spectful  recognition,  and  another  horse  was 
chosen  to  wear  the  unwelcome  harness." 

In  September,  1906,  I  sent  a  picture  of  Little 
350 


LINCOLN'S  LAST  DAYS 

Jeff  to  Mrs.  Jefferson  Davis,  thinking  it  would 
be  a  pleasure,  after  a  lapse  of  so  many  years,  to 
look  once  more  upon  the  form  of  her  old  horse. 
The  following  acknowledgment  in  her  own  beau 
tiful  handwriting  reached  me  later: 

Hotel  Gramatan,  Eronxmlle,  N.  Y.f  Sept.  19th,  1Q06. 
David  H.  Bates,  Esq. 

MY  DEAR  SIR  :  Many  thanks  for  the  interesting  picture  of 
one  of  our  well  known  breed  of  horses  in  which  Mr.  Davis 
and  I  took  much  interest.  They  were  a  cross  of  a  noted 
Canadian  racing  pacer  called  Oliver,  with  several  blooded 
American  and  English  mares.  I  think  they  were  all  taken 
except  one  inferior  gelding.  They  were  without  exception 
horses  of  wonderful  speed  and  endurance  and  gaited  by 
nature  with  the  long  pace  which  was  so  speedy  and  at  the 
same  time  easy  to  the  rider. 

Excuse,  please,  my  tardy  acknowledgement  of  your  kind 
attention  in  sending  the  engravings,  and  believe  me 

Respectfully  and  truly  yours, 

V.  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

Mrs.  Davis  came  to  New  York  a  few  days  after 
writing  this  letter,  was  taken  ill,  died  on  October 
16,  and  was  buried  at  Richmond  beside  her  hus 
band  on  October  19. 

UPON  Lincoln's  return  from  Petersburg,  he 
found  awaiting  him  a  telegram  from  the  Secre 
tary  of  War,  pointing  out  the  dangers  which  the 

351 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

President  was  likely  to  meet  if  he  went  to  the 
front,  as  his  early  morning  message  had  stated 
he  would  do. 

In  part  Stanton  said:  "Ought  you  to  expose 
the  Nation  to  the  consequences  of  any  disaster  to 
yourself  in  the  pursuit  of  a  treacherous  and 


Facsimile  (reduced)  of  Lincoln's    cipher-despatch,  in  which  he 
announced  the  fall  of  Petersburg  and  Richmond 


dangerous  enemy  like  the  rebel  army?"  In  Lin 
coln's  reply  to  this  thoughtful  warning,  which  is 
given  in  facsimile  on  page  353  he  says:  "I  will 
take  care  of  myself." 

Alas,  with  all  his  precautions  and  in  spite  of 
all  the  safeguards  placed  around  his  person  by  the 
Secretary  of  War  and  by  General  Grant,  he  was 

352 


LINCOLN'S  LAST  DAYS 

destined  to  meet  death  at  the  hands  of  an  assassin, 
eleven  days  later. 

The  despatch  above  referred  to  was  the  last 
one  sent  by  the  President  before  he  went  to  Rich 
mond  the  following  day,  and  before  his  death,  so 
far  as  is  recorded,  he  sent  only  seven  others. 


-    ^.— >  '— 
£A.«^    OL,-^    -£ur^  •/  *-  .&"f 


...J 
Facsimile  (reduced)  of  Lincoln's  despatch  of  5  P.M.,  April  3,  1865 

On  April  4,  Lincoln  left  City  Point  for  Rich 
mond,  accompanied  by  Beckwith,  the  faithful 
cipher-operator,  who  recently  sent  me  the  follow 
ing  account  of  the  journey. 

"At  8  A.M.,  Tuesday,  April  4,  1865,  I  received 
orders  from  Mr.  Lincoln  to  accompany  him  to  the 
late  capital  of  the  Confederacy,  which  had  fallen 

353 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

into  our  hands  the  day  before.  I  at  once  repaired 
to  the  dock,  where  an  escort  of  cavalry  and  a  four- 
horse  ambulance  were  being  embarked  on  the 
transport  Columbus,  and  sat  down  at  the  cap 
tain's  desk  for  the  purpose  of  completing  some 
cipher-translations,  supposing  the  President  was 
already  on  board.  The  captain  of  the  transport 
soon  discovered  my  whereabouts  and  nervously 
informed  me  that  the  River  Queen,  with  the 
President  and  Rear- Admiral  Porter  on  board 
had  dropped  down  the  river  in  search  of  me  and 
was  then  passing  up.  Without  a  moment's  loss  of 
time  I  ran  ashore  and  hailed  the  nearest  tug  which 
then  steamed  up  the  James  and  by  means  of  sig 
nals  overtook  the  River  Queen,  near  Bermuda 
Hundred,  where  I  was  taken  aboard  and  reported 
to  the  President.  Admiral  Porter,  little  Tad  and 
Captain  Penrose  of  the  army  were  with  him.  The 
last  named  had  been  assigned  by  Secretary  Stan- 
ton  to  protect  the  President  during  his  stay  in 
Virginia. 

"When  we  arrived  at  the  lower  side  of  the  'ob 
structions'1  in  the  James,  the  River  Queen  tied 

1  It  should  be  explained  that  the  Confederates,  during  the  long 
siege  of  their  capital,  had  placed  obstructions  in  the  winding  chan 
nel  of  the  James,  between  Richmond  and  City  Point,  leaving  a 
narrow  passage  only,  through  which  small  vessels  might  pass,  and 
which  could  be  quickly  closed  when  so  desired. 

354 


LINCOLN'S  LAST  DAYS 

up,  while  the  President  betook  himself  to  the  Ad 
miral's  eight-oared  barge  in  waiting  for  him  above 
the  obstructions  in  tow  of  a  tug.  Mr.  Lincoln  di 
rected  me  to  follow  with  the  cavalry  escort  and 
ambulance,  if  we  could  make  the  passage  of  the 
obstructions,  and  if  not,  then  to  bring  them  up  to 
Richmond  overland.  When  the  President  had 
left,  I  called  the  captains  of  the  River  Queen  and 
Columbus  into  council,  and  they  thought  my  sug 
gestion  feasible  to  drop  down  the  stream  about 
500  feet,  force  on  full  steam  and  jam  through  the 
rushing  current  in  the  narrow  opening,  but  alas, 
while  almost  at  the  upper  end  of  the  channel,  we 
were  swept  around  and  firmly  held,  as  if  spiked 
to  the  piling. 

"We  were  now  stuck  in  the  narrow  opening. 
There  are  cheerful  outlooks  in  nearly  every  condi 
tion,  but  I  must  confess  to  a  momentary  loss  of 
hope  and  anticipated  pleasure,  while  thinking 
that  I  was  to  be  deprived  of  seeing  the  entry  into 
Richmond  of  our  beloved  President.  While  in 
the  pilot-house,  I  detected  the  gold  bands  on  the 
sleeves  of  a  man  of  small  stature  aboard  a  tug 
coming  down  the  James.  As  he  came  into  closer 
vision,  I  observed  that  the  sturdy  sailor  was  none 
other  than  Admiral  Farragut  on  the  deck  of  his 

355 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

tug,  giving  personal  orders  for  the  relief  of  our 
beleaguered  vessel.  As  Farragut  dropped  slowly 
down,  I  heard  his  word  of  command,  'Get  your 
hawsers  ready.'  The  sergeant  in  command  of  the 
escort  on  our  boat  reechoed  the  order,  'Men,  get 
your  harses  ready/  adding  in  a  lower  tone, 
'Phwat  does  he  want  of  harses  in  the  wather?' 

"The  Admiral's  tug  soon  pulled  us  through, 
and  we  proceeded  rapidly  to  our  destination  at 
the  Rocketts,  two  miles  below  Richmond.  Here 
we  found  General  Weitzel's  aide-de-camp  await 
ing  us.  The  President's  party  had  arrived  a  short 
time  before,  and  with  an  escort  consisting  of 
about  a  dozen  sailors,  had  gone  to  Jeff.  Davis's 
abandoned  house,  known  as  the  'Confederate 
Mansion,'  and  which  was  then  occupied  by  Gen 
eral  Weitzel  commanding,  and  by  General  Shep- 
ley,  Military  Governor  of  Richmond. 

"Upon  landing  at  the  Rocketts,  I  lent  my 
horse  and  an  extra  one  to  the  two  captains,  who 
were  eager  to  enter  the  city  in  style,  only  to  learn 
a  little  later  that  both  horses,  frightened  by  the 
noise  and  excitement  in  the  streets,  had  run  away 
with  them.  As  for  myself,  in  charge  of  the  Presi 
dent's  cavalry  escort,  which  I  felt  sure  would  be 
needed  in  the  Southern  capital,  all  my  energy 

356 


LINCOLN'S  LAST  DAYS 

was  called  forth  to  maintain  unbroken  lines 
on  our  journey  from  the  wharf  up  the  hill  to 
Davis's  former  home.  The  enthusiasm  of  the 
colored  people  was  something  indescribable.  They 
cheered  us  continually  as  we  moved  along,  my 
ambulance  preceding  the  cavalry  escort.  As  our 
cavalcade  approached  the  Confederate  Mansion, 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  seen  on  the  piazza,  and  his  first 
words  to  me,  as  the  loud  cheering  continued,  were 
to  the  effect  that  I  had  been  stealing  somebody 
else's  thunder. 

"The  President  then  took  a  drive  around  the 
streets  of  Richmond,  and  was  everywhere  greeted 
by  the  negroes  with  noisy  ejaculations  of  joy. 
There  seemed  to  be  a  sort  of  freemasonry  among 
them,  so  that  the  news  of  the  President's  coming 
had  spread  like  wildfire.  In  the  afternoon  our 
entire  party  left  the  mansion,  the  President  in  a 
carriage,  and  I  maintaining  my  position  at  the 
head  of  the  cavalry  escort,  immediately  following, 
until  we  reached  the  landing  on  the  James,  where 
Admiral  Porter's  barge  conveyed  the  President 
to  the  flagship  Malvern  for  the  night,  after  which 
I  reported  to  General  Shepley  for  quarters  and 
rations  for  my  horses  and  men. 

"At  9  o'clock  the  next  morning,  April  5,  I  was 
22  357 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

on  hand  with  my  escort  at  the  landing  waiting 
for  the  President,  who  soon  came  ashore  in  the 
Admiral's  barge.  A  second  drive  around  the  city 
was  then  taken,  and  after  a  visit  to  headquarters 
and  a  conference  with  Generals  Weitzel,  Shepley, 
and  others,  including  Charles  A.  Dana,  Assistant 
Secretary  of  War,  and  several  members  of  the 
Virginia  Legislature,  we  headed  for  the  wharf 
again,  and  the  President  and  party,  including 
myself,  boarded  the  Admiral's  barge  which  was 
in  readiness  with  the  eight  well-armed  sailors  to 
convey  us  to  City  Point,  towed  by  a  tug,  as  Mr. 
Lincoln  had  specially  requested.  At  the  mouth 
of  the  Dutch  Gap  Canal,  the  tug  cut  loose  and 
passed  around  the  nine-mile  bend,  while  the  sail 
ors  shipped  their  oars  and  took  us  quickly  through 
the  canal.  Arriving  at  City  Point,  Mr.  Lincoln 
immediately  repaired  to  his  accustomed  desk  in 
Colonel  Bowers's  tent,  and  I  to  my  post  of  duty 
in  the  telegraph  tent  adjoining,  where  a  number 
of  ciphers  for  the  President  were  awaiting  trans 
lation." 

As  indicated  in  Beckwith's  account,  Lincoln, 
upon  his  return  to  City  Point,  found  a  batch  of 
telegrams,  including  some  from  Grant  at  the 
front  telling  of  the  continued  progress  of  his 

358 


LINCOLN'S  LAST  DAYS 

army  in  the  pursuit  of  Lee's  disheartened  and  fast 
disintegrating  forces. 

At  noon,  the  following  day,  Lincoln  tele 
graphed  to  Grant  that  Secretary  Seward  had 
been  seriously  injured  by  being  thrown  from  his 
carriage  in  Washington,  and  that  this,  with  other 
matters,  would  take  him  to  Washington  soon. 
Otherwise  it  is  to  be  presumed,  that  notwithstand 
ing  Stanton's  warning,  he  would  have  gone  to 
Appomattox  to  be  present  at  the  surrender  of 
Lee's  army.  The  same  day  he  telegraphed  Gen 
eral  Weitzel  at  Richmond  on  the  subject  of  a 
meeting  of  the  "gentlemen  who  have  acted  as  the 
Legislature  of  Virginia,"  for  the  purpose  of  tak 
ing  measures  "to  withdraw  the  Virginia  troops 
from  resistance  to  the  General  Government." 
Lincoln  remained  at  City  Point  until  April  8, 
when  he  returned  on  the  River  Queen  to  Wash 
ington,  where  he  arrived  April  9,  at  which  time 
he  received  Grant's  welcome  despatch  announcing 
the  capitulation  of  Lee. 

And  now,  let  us  go  back  to  the  morning  of 
April  3,  when  Lincoln's  despatch  from  City 
Point  gave  us  in  the  War  Department  the  first 
news  of  the  capture  of  Petersburg  and  Rich 
mond.  Shortly  after  that  message  was  received 

359 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

we  were  startled  to  hear  our  comrade,  William  J. 
Dealy,  at  Fort  Monroe,  say  over  the  wire,  "Turn 
down  for  Richmond."  To  one  not  a  telegrapher 
these  words  would  be  Greek,  but  we  all  knew 
what  was  meant,  and  operator  Thomas  A.  Laird 
at  once  turned  down  the  armature  spring  so  that 
it  might  respond  to  the  weaker  current  from  the 
more  distant  office  and  the  signals  thus  be  made 
plainer  to  the  ear.  Then  came  the  inquiry,  "Do 
you  get  me  well?"  "Yes,  go  ahead."  "All 
right.  Here  is  the  first  message  for  you  in  four 
years  from 

Richmond,  Va.,  April  3,  1865. 

HON.  EDWIN  M.  STANTON,  Secretary  of  War,  Washing 
ton,  D.  C.:  We  took  Richmond  at  8:15  this  morning.  .  . 
The  city  is  on  fire  in  two  places.   .   . 

G.  WEITZEL,  Brig.-Gen'l  Comd'g. 

Weitzel  sent  a  similar  message  to  Grant  at  the 
front,  the  original  of  which  is  still  in  the  posses 
sion  of  the  operator  who  transmitted  it  over  the 
field  wire — Mr.  William  B.  Wood,  now  of  New 
York  City. 

When  Laird  received  the  words,  "From  Rich 
mond,"  he  jumped  up  and  ran  into  the  cipher- 
room,  leaving  Willie  Kettles,  a  lad  of  fifteen,  the 
youngest  operator  in  the  office,  to  copy  the 

360 


LINCOLN'S  LAST  DAYS 

despatch  while  Laird  spread  the  glad  tidings  by 
word  of  mouth.  Looking  out  of  the  windows  at 
the  people  who  were  passing,  the  cipher-oper 
ators  leaned  as  far  out  as  possible  and  shouted, 
"Richmond  has  fallen." 

During  the  following  week  the  wires  were  kept 
busy  with  messages  relating  to  the  task  of  re 
storing  order  in  the  former  capital  of  the  Con 
federacy  and  with  other  messages  from  Grant 
possessing  a  deeper  interest,  until  on  April  9,  we 
were  rejoiced  to  hear  of  the  surrender  at  Appo- 
mattox.  We  knew  then  that  the  war  had  ended, 
and  a  new  era  had  begun.  Lincoln  had  already 
started  from  City  Point,  reaching  Washington 
on  the  evening  of  the  9th.  The  political  situa 
tion  was  uppermost  in  his  mind,  and  in  order  that 
he  might  begin  at  once  "to  bind  up  the  Nation's 
wounds,"  he  sent  immediately  for  Governor 
Pierpoint,  of  Virginia,  his  first  telegram  after  ar 
rival  being  the  following: 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  April  10,  1865. 
GOVERNOR  PIERPOINT,  Alexandria,  Va. :  Please  come  up 
and  see  me  at  once.  A.  LINCOLN. 

On  the  following  evening,  at  the  White  House, 
he  delivered  his  carefully  prepared,  written 

361 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

speech,  touching  particularly  on  the  Louisiana 
situation.  This  was  his  last  public  address,  and 
the  writer  had  the  pleasure  of  listening  to  it  on 
his  way  home  from  the  War  Department. 

On  the  morning  of  Wednesday,  April  12,  he 
came  over  to  the  telegraph  office  and  wrote  two 
telegrams,  both  relating  to  Virginia  legislative 
matters,  and  to  complete  this  record  they  are 
given  in  full  below : 

Washington,  D.  C.,  April  12,  1865. 

MAJOR-GENERAL  WEITZEL,  Richmond,  Va. :  I  have  seen 
your  dispatch  to  Colonel  Hardie  about  the  matter  of 
prayers.  I  do  not  remember  hearing  prayers  spoken  of 
while  I  was  in  Richmond;  but  I  have  no  doubt  you  have 
acted  in  what  appeared  to  you  to  be  the  spirit  and  temper 
manifested  by  me  while  there.  Is  there  any  sign  of  the 
rebel  legislature  coming  together  on  the  understanding  of 
my  letter  to  you?  If  there  is  any  such  sign,  inform  me 
what  it  is;  if  there  is  no  such  sign,  you  may  withdraw  the 
offer.  A.  LINCOLN. 

Weitzel's  reply  not  being  conclusive,  Lincoln 
then  wrote  his  last  telegraphic  despatch,  using 
for  the  purpose  a  Gillott's  small  barrel  pen — No. 
404 — borrowed  from  Albert  Chandler: 

Washington,  D.  C.,  April  12,  1865. 

MAJOR-GENERAL  WEITZEL,  Richmond,  Va. :  I  have  just 
seen  Judge  Campbell's  letter  to  you  of  the  7th.  He  as 
sumes,  as  appears  to  me,  that  I  have  called  the  insurgent 

362 


LINCOLN'S  LAST  DAYS 

legislature  of  Virginia  together,,  as  the  rightful  legislature 
of  the  State,  to  settle  all  differences  with  the  United  States. 
I  have  done  no  such  thing.  I  spoke  of  them,  not  as  a  legis 
lature,  but  as  "the  gentlemen  who  have  acted  as  the  Legisla 
ture  of  Virginia  in  support  of  the  rebellion."  I  did  this  on 
purpose  to  exclude  the  assumption  that  I  was  recognizing 
them  as  a  rightful  body.  I  dealt  with  them  as  men  having 
power  de  facto  to  do  a  specific  thing,  to  wit:  "To  withdraw 
the  Virginia  troops  and  other  support  from  resistance  to  the 
General  Government,"  for  which,  in  the  paper  handed 
Judge  Campbell,  I  promised  a  specific  equivalent,  to  wit:  a 
remission  to  the  people  of  the  State,  except  in  certain  cases, 
of  the  confiscation  of  their  property.  I  meant  this,  and  no 
more.  Inasmuch,  however,  as  Judge  Campbell  misconstrues 
this,  and  is  still  pressing  for  an  armistice,  contrary  to  the 
explicit  statement  of  the  paper  I  gave  him,  and  particularly 
as  General  Grant  has  since  captured  the  Virginia  troops,  so 
that  giving  a  consideration  for  their  withdrawal  is  no  longer 
applicable,  let  my  letter  to  you  and  the  paper  to  Judge 
Campbell  both  be  withdrawn,  or  countermanded,  and  he  be 
notified  of  it.  Do  not  allow  them  to  assemble,  but  if  any 
have  come,  allow  them  safe  return  to  their  homes. 

A.  LINCOLN. 

When  this  despatch  was  passed  over  to  us, 
we  quickly  transcribed  its  contents  in  the  cipher- 
book,  line  after  line  and  column  after  column, 
little  thinking  that  it  was  the  last  message  we 
should  ever  receive  from  his  hands.  Soon  it  was 
in  form  for  transmission  to  the  cipher-operator 
at  Richmond,  and  then  the  end  of  our  association 
with  the  great  President  had  come. 

363 


XXVI 

THE  ASSASSINATION 

IMMEDIATELY  after  Lee's  surrender,  and 
without  waiting  to  witness  the  details  attend 
ing  the  transfer  of  the  enemy's  arms  and  prop 
erty,  General  Grant  started  for  Washington, 
where  he  arrived  on  April  13.  That  evening  had 
been  set  apart  for  an  illumination  of  the  city  in 
honor  of  our  victories,  and  the  expected  end  of 
the  war.  The  chief  interest  centered  about  the 
White  House,  and  Secretary  Stanton's  residence 
on  K  Street,  at  both  of  which  places  large  crowds 
of  people  assembled.  Extra  precautions  were 
taken  by  the  authorities  to  protect  the  President 
and  Lieutenant-General  against  expected  at 
tempts  to  kidnap  or  kill  them,  because  of  secret 
service  reports  that  plans  had  been  made  to  ac 
complish  such  evil  designs  during  the  excitement 
of  that  occasion.  Grant  was  present  at  Stanton's 
reception  and,  but  for  the  safeguards  provided, 

364 


THE  ASSASSINATION 

it  is  more  than  likely  that  the  efforts  of  O' Laugh  - 
lin,  one  of  the  conspirators,  to  enter  Stanton's 
house  and  execute  his  murderous  task,  might  have 
been  successful.  John  C.  Hatter,  now  of  Brook 
lyn,  one  of  the  War  Department  telegraph  staff, 
testified  at  the  trial  of  the  conspirators  in  May, 
1865,  that  one  of  them— Michael  O'Laughlin— 
was  in  the  crowd  at  Stanton's  house  the  night  of 
the  illumination,  and  had  tried  to  enter.  In  fact, 
he  reached  the  front  hall,  but  Hatter,  who  was 
uneasy  over  his  presence,  induced  him  to  leave. 

It  was  mainly  on  the  strength  of  Hatter's 
testimony  that  O'Laughlin  was  found  guilty. 
He  died  in  prison  at  Dry  Tortugas,  Florida, 
September  23,  1867. 

On  the  day  of  the  illumination,  Mrs.  Lincoln 
made  plans  for  a  small  theater-party  on  the  fol 
lowing  evening,  Friday,  April  14,  to  see  Laura 
Keene  play  the  part  of  Florence  Trenchard  in 
"Our  American  Cousin."  Lincoln  reluctantly 
acceded  to  Mrs.  Lincoln's  request  that  he  should 
be  present,  and  suggested  that  General  and  Mrs. 
Grant  be  invited  to  join  the  party. 

The  invitation  was  given  and  accepted,  but 
when  Stanton  heard  of  it  he  made  a  vigorous 
protest,  having  in  mind  the  numerous  threats  of 

365 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

assassination  which  had  come  to  his  notice  through 
secret  service  agents  and  otherwise. 

Lincoln  made  light  of  all  these  signs,  but  Stan- 
ton  realized  the  seriousness  of  the  situation,  and 
told  Grant  of  his  fears,  urging  him  not  to  go  to 
the  theater  and,  if  possible,  to  dissuade  Lincoln 
from  going.  It  was  Stanton's  idea  that  if  it  were 
announced  that  the  Lieutenant-General  and  the 
President  were  to  attend  Ford's  Theater  to 
gether  there  would  be  a  large  crowd  present,  and 
evil-disposed  persons  would  be  better  able  to 
carry  out  their  plans. 

Grant  agreed  with  Stanton,  and  said  he  only 
wanted  an  excuse  not  to  go.  He  concluded, 
therefore,  to  send  word  to  Lincoln  that  as  he  had 
not  seen  his  daughter  Nellie  for  a  long  time  he 
would  withdraw  his  acceptance  of  the  invitation 
and  start  on  Friday  afternoon  for  Burlington, 
New  Jersey,  where  his  daughter  was  attending 
school. 

On  the  morning  of  the  14th,  Lincoln  made  his 
usual  visit  to  the  War  Department  and  told 
Stanton  that  Grant  had  cancelled  his  engage 
ment  for  that  evening.  The  stern  and  cautious 
Secretary  again  urged  the  President  to  give  up 
the  theater-party,  and,  when  he  found  that  he 

366 


THE  ASSASSINATION 

was  set  on  going,  told  him  he  ought  to  have  a 
competent  guard.  Lincoln  said:  "Stanton,  do 
you  know  that  Eckert  can  break  a  poker  over  his 
arm?" 

Stanton,  not  knowing  what  was  coming,  looked 
around  in  surprise  and  answered:  "No;  why  do 
you  ask  such  a  question?"  Lincoln  said:  "Well, 
Stanton,  I  have  seen  Eckert  break  five  pokers, 
one  after  the  other,  over  his  arm,  and  I  am  think 
ing  he  would  be  the  kind  of  man  to  go  with  me 
this  evening.  May  I  take  him?" 

Stanton,  still  unwilling  to  encourage  the  thea 
ter  project,  said  that  he  had  some  important 
work  for  Eckert  that  evening,  and  could  not 
spare  him.  Lincoln  replied:  "Well,  I  will  ask 
the  Major  myself,  and  he  can  do  your  work  to 
morrow."  He  then  went  into  the  cipher-room, 
told  Eckert  of  his  plans  for  the  evening,  and  said 
he  wanted  him  to  be  one  of  the  party,  but  that 
Stanton  said  he  could  not  spare  him.  "Now, 
Major,"  he  added,  "come  along.  You  can  do 
Stanton's  work  to-morrow,  and  Mrs.  Lincoln  and 
I  want  you  with  us." 

Eckert  thanked  the  President  but,  knowing 

1  The  incident  of  breaking  the  stove  pokers  is  described  in 
chapter  IX. 

367 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

Stanton's  views,  and  that  Grant  had  been  in 
duced  to  decline,  told  the  President  he  could  not 
accept  because  the  work  which  the  Secretary  re 
ferred  to  must  be  done  that  evening,  and  could 
not  be  put  off. 

"Very  well,"  Lincoln  then  said,  "I  shall  take 
Major  Rathbone  along,  because  Stanton  insists 
upon  having  some  one  to  protect  me ;  but  I  should 
much  rather  have  you,  Major,  since  I  know  you 
can  break  a  poker  over  your  arm." 

It  is  idle  to  conjecture  what  might  have  been 
the  result  if  the  alert  and  vigorous  Eckert  had 
accompanied  Lincoln  to  Ford's  Theater  that 
night.  Had  he  done  so  the  probabilities  are  that 
in  view  of  Eckert 's  previous  knowledge  of  the 
plot  to  kidnap  or  kill  the  President,  Booth  might 
have  been  prevented  from  firing  the  fatal  shot, 
and  Lincoln  spared  to  finish  his  great  work. 

As  is  well  known  Lincoln  went  to  the  theater 
in  the  evening  with  Mrs.  Lincoln,  Miss  Harris, 
daughter  of  Senator  Ira  Harris  of  New  York, 
and  Major  Rathbone,  a  stepson  of  the  senator. 

During  the  course  of  the  play,  a  few  minutes 
after  ten  o'clock,  John  Wilkes  Booth  entered  the 
theater  lobby  and  passed  round  the  dress-circle 
to  the  door  of  the  box  where  Lincoln's  party  were 

368 


THE  ASSASSINATION 

seated,  picked  up  a  bar  of  wood  that  he  had 
previously  provided  and  placed  it  in  position  for 
use  as  a  brace.  When  he  entered  the  box  and 
closed  the  door  after  him  the  brace  fell  into  a  slot 
in  the  wall,  thus  preventing  the  door  from  being 
opened  from  the  outside. 

At  10:  20  P.M.  Booth,  using  a  Derringer  pistol 
and  exclaiming:  "Sic  semper  tyrannis"  as  he 
fired,  shot  the  President  in  the  back  of  his  head, 
and  then,  shaking  himself  loose  from  Major 
Rathbone  who  had  grappled  with  him,  jumped 
over  the  box  to  the  stage,  about  seven  feet  below. 
As  he  fell  the  spur  which  he  wore  caught  in  the 
folds  of  the  American  flag  which  draped  the 
front  of  the  box  and  caused  him  to  break  his 
ankle. 

The  whole  affair  was  so  sudden  and  startling 
that  the  crowded  audience  appeared  to  be  dazed, 
and  although  some  of  the  clearer-headed  persons 
tried  to  seize  the  assassin  the  confusion  was  so 
great  that  he  managed  to  escape  through  the  left- 
hand  exit  from  the  stage,  and,  mounting  a  horse 
that  was  being  held  ready  by  Spangler,  one  of 
the  conspirators,  rode  off  unmolested  toward  the 
bridge  over  the  eastern  branch  of  the  Potomac, 
where  he  was  met  by  Herold,  another  conspi- 

369 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

rator.  Together  they  rode  through  lower  Mary 
land,  while  the  whole  North,  aroused  to  fury,  was 
trying  to  track  them  and  the  other  assassins: 
Payne,  who  murderously  assaulted  Secretary 
Seward;  Atzerodt,  to  whom  was  assigned 
the  task  of  killing  Vice-President  Johnson; 
O'Laughlin,  who  was  to  kill  Grant,  and  the  other 
conspirators  who  took  minor  parts  in  the  great 
tragedy. 

I  remember  the  long  night  of  Friday,  April 
14,  that  black  day  in  our  country's  history,  when 
the  hate  and  cruelty  embodied  in  four  years  of 
bloody  war  culminated  in  a  stroke  of  madness, 
aimed  at  the  life  of  one  who  had  only  "charity  for 
all  with  malice  toward  none."  Although  I  was 
on  duty  in  the  cipher-room  that  evening,  I  have 
no  distinct  remembrance  of  anything  that  oc 
curred  prior  to  the  moment  when  some  one 
rushed  into  the  office  with  blanched  face  saying, 
"There  is  a  rumor  below  that  President  Lincoln 
has  been  shot  in  Ford's  Theater."  Before  we 
could  fully  take  in  the  awful  import,  other 
rumors  reached  us,  horror  following  fast  upon 
horror:  the  savage  attack  upon  Secretary  Sew 
ard,  and  the  frustrated  efforts  to  reach  and  kill 
Vice-President  Johnson,  Secretary  Stanton  and 

370 


THE  ASSASSINATION 

other  members  of  the  Government.  As  the  suc 
cessive  accounts  crystallized,  a  fearful  dread 
filled  our  hearts,  lest  it  should  be  found  that  the 
entire  cabinet  had  been  murdered.  After  an 
hour  of  this  awful  suspense,  we  received  word 
from  Major  Eckert,  who  had  gone  quickly  to 
Secretary  Stanton's  house  on  K  Street,  and  from 
there  with  the  Secretary  to  the  house  on  Tenth 
Street,  opposite  the  theater,  to  which  the  Presi 
dent  had  been  carried  after  having  been  shot  by 
John  Wilkes  Booth.  This  message  merely  as 
sured  us  of  the  present  safety  of  Stanton,  while 
confirming  our  worst  fears  concerning  the  Presi 
dent.  Two  of  my  comrades  were  in  the  audience 
at  the  theater,  Thomas  A.  Laird,  now  of  Buffalo, 
and  George  C.  Maynard,  now  assistant  curator  of 
the  Smithsonian  Institute.  Laird  ran  to  Eck 
ert 's  house  on  Thirteenth  Street  to  give  him  the 
news,  while  Maynard  came  to  the  War  Depart 
ment.  Both  men  remained  on  duty  all  night  with 
Chandler  and  myself. 

A  relay  of  mounted  messengers  in  charge  of 
John  C.  Hatter  was  immediately  established  by 
Eckert,  and  all  night  long  they  carried  bulletins 
in  Stanton's  handwriting  addressed  to  General 
Dix,  New  York  City,  which  were  at  once  given  to 

371 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

the  Associated  Press  and  flashed  over  the  wires 
throughout  the  country.  As  these  bulletins 
were  spelled  out  in  the  Morse  telegraph  char 
acters,  our  hearts  were  stunned  and  yet  seemed 
to  be  on  fire.  The  awfulness  of  the  tragedy 
hushed  us  into  silence.  As  the  hours  slowly 
passed,  hope  revived  fitfully  as  some  sen 
tence  offered  faint  encouragement  that  the  pre 
cious  life  might  perhaps  be  spared  to  complete 
its  chosen  work;  but  at  last,  about  7:30  A.M., 
April  15,  the  tension  gave  way,  and  we  knew 
that  our  beloved  President  was  gone  from  us  for 
ever. 

The  news  of  the  tragedy  reached  Grant  at 
Philadelphia,  as  he  was  about  to  take  the  ferry 
boat  for  Camden.  He  continued  his  journey  to 
Burlington  with  Mrs.  Grant,  returning  to 
Washington  immediately  with  Beckwith,  his  ci 
pher-operator.  The  latter  remained  in  Wash 
ington  until  April  22,  when  he  was  ordered  to 
the  lower  Potomac  to  establish  communication 
with  the  several  parties  in  that  vicinity  who  were 
searching  for  Booth,  for  the  capture  of  whom  the 
large  reward  of  $100,000  had  been  offered.  It 
was  reported  that  Booth's  route  of  escape  was 
through  Maryland,  toward  Point  Lookout,  and 

372 


THE  ASSASSINATION 

a  force,  including  600  colored  troops,  com 
manded  by  Major  James  R.  O'Beirne,  was  sent 
from  Washington  to  capture  the  assassins. 
Beck  with  went  with  this  detachment  and  opened 
an  office  at  Port  Tobacco,  from  which  place  he 
sent  a  number  of  telegrams,  one  of  which  gave 
the  Washington  authorities  the  earliest  authentic 
clue  to  Booth's  immediate  whereabouts,  and  in 
part  read  as  follows : 


Port  Tobacco,  Md.,  April  24th,  1865. 

10  A.M.,  received  HA.M. 

MAJOR  ECKERT:  Have  just  met  Major  O'Beirne,  whose 
force  has  arrested  Doctor  Mudd  and  Thompson.  Mudd  set 
Booth's  left  leg  (fractured),  furnished  crutches,  and  helped 
him  and  Herold  off.  They  have  been  tracked  as  far  as  the 
swamp  near  Bryantown.  ...  S.  H.  BECKWITH. 


Stanton  ordered  a  small  body  of  picked  men 
under  Lieutenant  E.  P.  Doherty  of  the  16th  New 
York  Cavalry  to  start  for  Port  Tobacco,  leaving 
Washington  on  the  steamer  John  S.  Ide,  at  four 
o'clock,  arriving  at  Belle  Plain,  seventy  miles 
below  Washington,  at  ten  o'clock.  The  men  and 
their  horses  disembarked,  and  the  whole  party 
struck  out  on  the  trail,  and  by  midnight  they  had 
tracked  Booth  and  Herold  across  the  river  into 
23  373 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 


<3€? 


evx*v/<7^ 


^C^/^^Ji^ 


o^/     -&k^y      <yu-M- 


Facsimile,  on  this  and  the  following  page,  of  the  manuscript  of  Sec 
retary  Stan  ton's  order  to  the  armies  for  honoring  the 
memory  of  the  murdered  President 

The  original  is  in  the  possession  of  David  Homer  Bates  who  first  wrote  the  mes 
sage  from  Stan  ton's  dictation,  after  which  the  latter  revised 
it  extensively  with  his  own  hand 


374 


THE  ASSASSINATION 

Virginia,  where  they  were  discovered  concealed 
in  a  barn,  which  was  set  on  fire  for  the  purpose  of 
forcing  the  fugitives  from  its  shelter,  and,  as  is 
well  known,  Booth  was  shot  by  Sergeant 
"Boston"  Corbett,  of  Company  L,  16th  New 


York  Cavalry,  Herold  having  surrendered  pre 
viously. 

Corbett  was  born  in  London.  He  was  a  mem 
ber  of  the  old  Attorney  Street  Methodist  Church, 
New  York,  before  he  enlisted.  The  writer  met 
him  one  night  in  the  summer  of  1865  at  Foundry 

375 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

Church,  Fourteenth  and  G  streets,  Washington, 
where  he  testified  regarding  his  religious  experi 
ence.  He  appeared  to  be  very  quiet  and  rather 
morose.  Years  afterward  his  mind  gave  way, 
and  he  was  committed  to  an  asylum,  where  he  died. 

It  is  believed  that  all  of  the  conspirators  were 
apprehended.  As  before  stated,  John  Wilkes 
Booth  was  shot  near  Port  Royal,  Virginia,  on 
April  26.  Lewis  Thornton  Powell  (alias 
Payne),  George  A.  Atzerodt,  David  E.  Herold, 
and  Mrs.  Mary  E.  Surratt,  were  hung  at  the 
Washington  arsenal  July  7,  1865.  Samuel  Ar 
nold,  Edward  Spangler,  Michael  O'Laughlin, 
and  Dr.  Samuel  A.  Mudd  were  sentenced  to  im 
prisonment  for  varying  terms  at  Dry  Tortugas, 
Florida. 

John  H.  Surratt,  who  had  evaded  arrest,  went 
abroad,  served  in  the  Papal  Zouaves  at  Rome, 
was  apprehended,  and  escaped,  and  later  went  to 
Egypt,  where  he  was  arrested,  brought  to  the 
United  States  and,  in  1867,  placed  on  trial  for 
his  part  in  the  conspiracy.  The  jury  disagreed, 
and  when  he  was  arraigned  the  second  time  he 
was  discharged  by  the  court. 


876 


XXVII 

PAYNE,  THE  ASSASSIN 

IN  a  previous  chapter  reference  was  made 
to  the  finding  by  Eckert  on  November  26, 
1864,  the  day  after  the  attempt  of  the  conspira 
tors  to  burn  New  York  City,  of  a  letter  addressed 
to  a  man  called  Payne  with  directions  regarding 
the  assassination  of  certain  persons,  and  also  a 
picture  of  Lincoln  with  a  red  ink-mark  around 
the  neck  and  down  the  shirt-front.  The  connec 
tion  of  Payne  the  assassin  with  these  documents 
was  made  certain  six  months  afterward,  on  his 
own  confession. 

Payne's  real  name  was  Lewis  Thornton  Pow 
ell.  He  enlisted  in  the  Confederate  army  from 
Florida,  where  his  father,  a  Baptist  minister, 
then  resided.  At  Gettysburg,  in  July,  1863,  he 
was  wounded  and  taken  prisoner.  He  escaped 
from  the  hospital  in  Baltimore,  after  falling  in 
love  with  his  nurse,  and  returned  to  the  Confed 
erate  army,  but  about  a  year  later  came  North, 

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LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

either  to  meet  his  sweetheart,  or  as  a  deserter  or 
spy,  probably  the  latter,  in  view  of  his  connection 
with  the  Lincoln  picture  above  referred  to,  and 
also  in  view  of  his  association  with  Booth  in  the 
plot  to  kill  Lincoln  and  his  cabinet. 

Payne  was  a  remarkable  man,  mentally  and 
physically.  His  limbs  and  muscles  were  finely 
formed  and  developed,  and  when  in  the  prison 
ers'  dock  on  trial,  clad  as  to  upper  garments  only 
in  a  tight-fitting  knit  shirt,  his  stalwart  figure 
was  almost  gladiatorial  in  its  clean-cut  robust 
ness.  His  face  was  sphinx-like  in  its  immobility, 
and  the  steady  gaze  of  his  dark,  expressive  eyes 
gave  one  the  impression  of  a  man  of  coldly-calcu 
lating,  daredevil  disposition,  whom  fate  had  de 
creed  to  reckless  deeds  and  now  to  death,  and 
who  was  without  remorse.  This  naturally  stolid 
man,  fired  with  the  spirit  of  revenge  by  the  fate 
of  his  native  South  and  the  death  of  his  two 
brothers  killed  in  battle,  was  but  a  tool  in  the 
hands  of  the  impulsive  and  romantic  Booth. 

Until  then  no  high  official  of  our  Government 
had  ever  suffered  attack  by  would-be  assassins. 
The  shock  to  the  country  was  terrific.  Might  not 
others  of  our  rulers  also  be  struck  down  as  Lin 
coln  and  Seward  had  been,  and  our  Ship  of  State 

378 


PAYNE,  THE  ASSASSIN 

be  driven  from  its  moorings  without  pilot  or  an 
chor?  Great  fear  and  anxiety  were  felt  by  every 
one,  and  chiefly  by  Stanton,  who  deemed  it  a 
matter  of  vital  importance  to  unravel  quickly  the 
threads  of  the  murderous  plot,  and  thus  prevent 
further  trouble.  But  how  to  proceed  was  a  puz 
zle.  Booth  was  dead,  Atzerodt  was  foreign -born, 
stupid,  and  hard  to  understand.  Herold,  Ar 
nold,  Spangler,  Mrs.  Surra tt,  and  O'Laughlin 
all  acted  subordinate  parts  and,  it  was  reasoned, 
might  not  know  of  Booth's  real  plans.  Payne 
was  the  only  one  of  the  seven  supposed  to  have 
enjoyed  the  full  confidence  of  the  arch  conspira 
tor,  and  he  was  silent  and  imperturbable,  answer 
ing  no  questions,  refusing  all  but  a  bare  modicum 
of  food,  and  even  resisting  one  of  the  demands  of 
nature.  In  this  latter  respect,  the  inactive  period 
was  prolonged  to  an  extraordinary  extent,  every 
possible  means  being  employed  by  the  attending 
physician  to  induce  normal  action. 

Secretary  Stanton  sent  Assistant  Secretaries 
Dana  and  Eckert  to  the  monitor  Saugus,  where 
Payne  was  confined  in  irons,  in  the  hope  that  he 
might  be  led  to  talk.  Dana  soon  tired  of  the  task, 
but  Eckert  persevered  in  his  efforts  to  break 
down  the  barriers  between  them,  and  for  several 

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LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

days  kept  vigil,  remaining  with  the  prisoner  al 
most  constantly  during  the  day,  and  for  hours 
uttering  no  word,  but  keeping  his  eyes  upon 
Payne  and  waiting  for  the  moment  of  victory 
over  the  assassin's  iron  will.  One  day  the  pro 
vost  marshal  in  command  tried  to  have  a  picture 
taken  of  Payne,  who  moved  his  head  from  side  to 
side  to  hide  his  face.  The  officer,  angered  by  his 
failure,  struck  at  Payne's  arm  with  his  sword  or 
cane.  Eckert  told  the  officer  he  had  no  authority 
for  striking  a  prisoner,  or  even  for  taking  his  pic 
ture.  In  this  he  was  upheld  by  Secretary  Stan- 
ton,  who  directed  that  Payne  should  be  placed  in 
Eckert 's  custody,  and  he  so  remained  until  the 
day  of  his  execution.  At  the  next  meeting  of  the 
two,  Payne  said  that  the  remark  to  the  officer 
who  struck  him  was  the  first  sympathetic  expres 
sion  he  had  heard  for  many  months. 

When  Eckert  told  Payne  of  his  finding  the 
letter  hereinbefore  referred  to,  Payne  said  that  it 
had  been  lost  at  the  time  of  the  conspirators'  at 
tempt  to  burn  the  city  in  November,  1864.  He 
added  that  he  knew  of  the  scheme,  and  had  been 
designated  to  set  fire  to  one  of  the  hotels,  but  had 
refused  to  be  a  party  to  a  crime  involving  injury 
and  probably  death  to  innocent  parties  who  had 

380 


PAYNE,  THE  ASSASSIN 

no  connection  with  the  Government,  and  had,  in 
stead,  gone  to  the  Winter  Garden  Theater  to  see 
the  three  Booths  in  Shakspere's  "Julius  Caesar." 

Under  instructions  from  the  Secretary  of  War 
each  of  the  conspirators  on  the  Saugus  was  fitted 
with  a  hood  over  the  head,  with  an  opening  for 
the  nose  and  mouth,  so  that  they  might  not  com 
municate  with  each  other.  Their  place  of  con 
finement  was  in  the  anchor-well  at  the  bow  of  the 
boat.  They  were  manacled,  but  were  not  con 
fined  separately  in  rooms  or  cells,  there  being  no 
such  facilities  on  the  vessel. 

Payne  had  asked  for  some  tobacco,  which  Eck- 
ert  did  not  have,  but  he  obtained  some  before  his 
next  visit  and  then  in  Payne's  presence  cut  off  a 
piece  and  put  it  into  his  own  mouth,  meantime 
watching  Payne,  whose  eyes  were  fixed  on  the 
coveted  morsel.  Eckert  then  cut  off  a  liberal 
piece  and  slipped  it  through  the  opening  in  the 
hood  into  Payne's  mouth.  The  prisoner  said  that 
he  never  had  anything  to  taste  so  good  as  that 
piece  of  tobacco. 

When  the  time  came  to  remove  the  prisoners 
to  the  arsenal  prison,  Eckert  accompanied  Payne 
with  the  guard.  Payne's  feet  had  swollen  so  that 
he  could  not  wear  his  shoes,  and  a  pair  of  carpet 

381 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

slippers  were  provided  which  gave  him  much  re 
lief.  As  they  neared  the  gang-plank  of  the  ves 
sel  it  was  necessary  for  each  one  to  lower  his  head 
to  prevent  being  struck  by  a  cross-piece,  the  tide 
being  very  low.  It  was  pitch-dark,  the  transfer 
being  made  at  night.  Payne  could  not  see  the 
obstruction  and  Eckert  placed  his  hand  on 
Payne's  head  and  pressed  it  down  so  as  to  pre 
vent  his  striking  the  cross-piece. 

It  was  after  one  of  these  incidents  that  Payne 
broke  down,  and  confided  many  details  of 
Booth's  plot,  which  were  of  such  a  character  as 
to  lead  to  the  belief  that,  with  the  exception  of 
John  H.  Surratt,  who  was  apprehended  in 
Egypt  two  years  later,  all  the  conspirators  were 
then  under  lock  and  key,  and  that  no  further 
trouble  might  be  expected  from  that  source. 

Even  after  Eckert  had  obtained  Payne's  con 
fidence,  the  latter  still  withheld  information 
bearing  on  his  own  part  in  the  conspiracy,  wait 
ing  for  a  promise  not  to  testify  against  him.  He 
was  told  that  such  a  promise  could  not  be  made, 
but  later  Payne  gave  a  few  details. 

One  Baltimore  rendezvous  was  in  a  gambling- 
place  on  Monument  Square  near  Guy's  Hotel. 
The  secretary  of  the  meeting  was  a  physician  on 

382 


PAYNE,  THE  ASSASSIN 

Fayette  Street,  near-by.  Eckert  went  to  Balti 
more  by  the  first  train,  and  consulted  the  doctor 
for  indigestion,  and  while  he  went  into  an  ad 
joining  room  to  write  a  prescription,  Eckert  qui 
etly  pocketed  a  picture  of  the  good  physician, 
which  was  standing  on  the  mantelpiece,  and  on 
his  return  to  Washington  showed  the  picture  to 
Payne,  who  identified  it.  Eckert  also  went  to 
the  Washington  rendezvous,  on  D  Street,  near 
the  railroad  station,  and  inquired  for  a  room  for 
meetings.  A  colored  woman  in  charge  offered 
him  the  very  room  which  Payne  had  described, 
and  said  it  had  been  used  for  meetings.  From 
her  story,  it  was  learned  just  when  Booth  and 
his  band  had  been  there,  although  she  evidently 
had  no  inkling  of  the  diabolical  plot  which  was 
being  laid  by  her  tenants.  The  room  was  large 
and  had  a  grate  at  one  end.  It  had  not  been 
cleaned  up  thoroughly,  papers  and  dust  having 
been  swept  toward  the  hearth  and  under  the 
grate.  Eckert  poked  with  his  cane  until  he  had 
separated  the  scraps  of  paper  from  the  debris  and 
afterward,  by  pasting  the  pieces  together,  made 
out  portions  of  a  resolution  evidently  having  ref 
erence  to  an  abduction,  and  which,  it  was  be 
lieved,  had  been  written  by  Booth. 

383 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

Among  the  debris  was  also  found  a  scrap  of 
paper  bearing  the  name  of  Mudd.  Dr.  Mudd 
living  in  lower  Maryland  had  set  Booth's  broken 
ankle  during  his  flight  toward  Virginia  and  had 
been  arrested  on  April  21  as  one  of  the  conspira 
tors.  On  the  trial,  Mudd  was  found  guilty  and 
sentenced  for  life  to  Dry  Tortugas  but  was  par 
doned  by  President  Johnson  in  1869,  after 
nearly  four  years'  imprisonment. 

Payne  told  Eckert  of  three  occasions  when  he 
was  close  to  Lincoln  and  could  have  shot  him  if 
so  inclined.  Once,  during  the  winter  of  1865, 
Booth  and  Payne  had  walked  through  the  White 
House  grounds  in  the  daytime.  Booth  urged 
Payne  to  send  a  card  in  to  Lincoln,  using  any 
name  that  he  might  see  fit,  and  when  he  went  into 
the  room  to  shoot  the  President.  Payne  said  he 
refused,  and  Booth  berated  him  soundly  for  cow 
ardice. 

At  another  time,  when  Lincoln  was  making  a 
speech  from  the  White  House,  Booth  and  Payne 
were  in  the  crowd  of  listeners  and  Booth  asked 
Payne  to  take  out  his  revolver  and  fire.  Payne 
said,  "No,  I  will  not  do  it."  Again  Booth 
damned  Payne  and  urged  him  to  commit  the 
deed  then  and  there,  saying  that  the  crowd  was 
so  great  that  it  could  be  done  without  detection, 

384 


PAYNE,  THE  ASSASSIN 

but  Payne  was  obdurate,  not  yet  having  screwed 
his  courage  up  to  the  point  of  murder.  It  is  more 
than  likely  this  was  on  April  11,  on  the  occasion 
of  Lincoln's  Louisiana  speech,  which  I  heard  him 
deliver. 

The  third  occasion  was  under  the  following 
circumstances :  Payne  suddenly  turned  to  Eckert 
and  said,  "Major,  were  you  not  the  man  walking 
with  the  President  through  the  White  House 
grounds  late  one  frosty  night  last  winter?" 
Payne  said  that  he  was  secreted  behind  the 
bushes  in  front  of  the  old  conservatory  where  the 
executive  offices  now  stand,  waiting  for  Lincoln 
to  return  from  the  War  Department.  There  had 
been  a  light  rain  and  it  then  got  colder  and  there 
was  a  crust  of  ice  so  that  it  crackled  under  one's 
foot.  Payne  said  he  heard  footsteps  from  the  di 
rection  of  the  War  Department,  and  when  the 
persons  got  nearly  opposite  where,  he  was  hiding 
he  saw  Lincoln  and  another  man  coming  along 
the  walk,  and  heard  the  President  say,  "Major, 
spread  out,  spread  out,  or  we  shall  break  through 
the  ice." 

The  two  then  stopped,  and  Lincoln  told  of  an 
incident  when  he  was  a  young  man.  The  nearest 
grist-mill  to  his  father's  house  was  seven  or  eight 
miles  distant  and  the  custom  was  to  take  the 

885 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

grain  to  the  mill  and  wait  for  it  to  be  ground  and 
then  carry  the  meal  back  home,  leaving  a  per 
centage  for  the  miller.  He  said  on  one  occasion 
during  a  very  cold  spell  he  and  a  party  of  neigh 
bors  were  returning  from  the  mill  with  their  bags 
and  they  came  to  the  Sangamon  Creek,  which 
was  frozen  over  so  that  they  could  cross  on  it,  but 
when  they  were  part  way  over  the  ice  cracked, 
and  some  one  said,  "Spread  out,  spread  out,  or 
we  shall  break  through  the  ice."  Eckert  told 
Payne  that  he  recalled  the  incident,  that  he  was 
with  President  Lincoln  that  night,  and  had 
walked  home  with  him  many  other  nights  from 
the  War  Department  to  the  White  House. 

John  C.  Hatter,  heretofore  mentioned,  told 
me  in  July,  1907,  that  near  the  end  of 
1864  he  accompanied  the  President  from  the 
War  Department  to  the  White  House  at  two 
o'clock  in  the  morning.  The  weather  had 
changed  from  rain  to  sleet  and  there  was  a  coat 
of  ice  on  the  ground.  When  the  gate  outside  the 
War  Department  (opposite  the  present  execu 
tive  offices)  was  opened  to  let  the  President  pass 
through  they  heard  a  sound  as  of  some  one  run 
ning  along  the  fence,  and  over  the  frozen  ground. 

Upon  examining  the  fence  they  found  three 
386 


PAYNE,  THE  ASSASSIN 

palings  removed  which  Hatter  said  were  not  out 
of  place  in  the  evening  when  he  came  on  duty. 
Mr.  Lincoln  said:  "What  was  that  noise?" 
Hatter  answered  that  it  sounded  like  some  one 
running  through  the  bushes  toward  the  conser 
vatory. 

The  President  asked  Hatter  not  to  say  any 
thing  to  any  one  about  the  incident,  and  they  re 
sumed  their  walk  to  the  White  House.  Hatter 
says  that  he  never  mentioned  the  subject,  except 
to  Secretary  Stanton,  who  had  heard  of  it 
through  some  other  source  and  asked  for  the 
facts. 

In  reply  to  my  inquiry  on  the  subject,  Rear- 
Admiral  Asa  Walker,  superintendent  of  the  Na 
val  Observatory  at  Washington,  wrote  me  on 
July  30,  1907,  that  the  Observatory  records  show 
the  following: 

December  14,  1864.  Commenced  hailing  at  12:25  A.M., 
and  changed  to  rain  in  20  minutes  after,  and  sleet. 

January  21,  1865.  Began  raining  moderately  at  8:50 
A.M.  Changed  soon  into  sleet,  continuing  until  9  P.M.  or 
later.  Stopped  before  midnight.  .  .  .  The  formation 
of  a  crust  on  the  snow  would  probably  not  be  mentioned  in 
our  records. 

It  seems  probable  that  in  the  last  two  cases 
mentioned  by  Payne,  his  purpose  was  frustrated 

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LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

by  the  fact  that  Lincoln  had  a  companion  on  his 
journey  through  the  White  House  grounds.  It 
is  also  likely  that  Lincoln's  departure  for  City 
Point,  on  March  23,  1865,  prevented  the  con 
spirators  from  carrying  out  their  murderous 
plans  at  that  time.1  They  were  on  the  watch, 
however,  and  within  five  days  after  his  return  to 
Washington  they  finally  succeeded. 


1  See  the  account  of  William  H.  Crook  in  "Harper's  Magazine" 
for  June,  1907,  page  48. 


888 


XXVIII 

LINCOLN'S  MANNER  CONTRASTED  WITH  STANTON'S 

QECRETARY  STANTON'S  private  secre- 
^-5  tary,  Major  A.  E.  H.  Johnson,  in  conver 
sation  with  the  writer  in  April,  1907,  said  that 
in  dealing  with  the  public,  Lincoln's  heart  was 
greater  than  his  head,  while  St^hton's  head  was 
greater  than  his  heart.  This  characterization, 
though  general,  contains  a  great  deal  of  truth. 
But  we  must  not  forget  that  the  crystallized 
opinion  of  the  present  generation  is  that  on  all 
the  important  questions  of  public  policy  and 
administrative  action,  where  Stanton's  views  were 
opposed  to  those  of  Lincoln,  the  latter  dominated 
his  energetic  War  Secretary.  Indeed,  one  of  Lin 
coln's  latest  biographers  has  entitled  his  volume 
"Lincoln,  Master  of  Men,"  and  has  marshaled 
facts  and  documents  which  seem  to  demonstrate 
that  on  essential  points  Lincoln's  will  was 
stronger  than  Stanton's. 

It  is  a  fact,  however,  that  during  the  three  and 
24  389 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

a  quarter  years  of  their  close  official  relations  the 
two  men  worked  in  almost  entire  harmony. 
There  never  appeared,  to  the  writer's  observa 
tion,  any  real  conflict  between  them.  It  suited 
both  to  treat  the  public  each  in  his  own  char 
acteristic  way,  and  when  in  any  case  the  pinch 
came,  each  knew  how  far  to  yield  to  the  other 
without  sacrifice  of  prerogative. 

One  incident  may  be  cited  to  show  the  oppos 
ing  characteristics  of  the  two  men.  The  scarcity 
and  very  high  price  of  cotton,  especially  to  ward  the 
end  of  the  war,  had  the  effect  of  leading  certain 
Northerners  to  engage  in  the  somewhat  question 
able  work  of  buying  up  cotton  through  certain 
agencies  in  the  border  States  with  the  resultant 
effect  of  supplying  needed  funds  to  the  South 
and  establishing  lines  of  communication  which 
were  used  in  many  cases  for  conveying  military 
information  to  the  enemy.  Accordingly,  the 
War  Department  issued  stringent  orders  on  this 
subject  which  were,  of  course,  criticized  by  the 
cotton  speculators,  one  of  whom,  about  May, 
1864,  appealed  to  Lincoln  for  the  purpose  of 
inducing  him  to  overrule  Stanton's  order  in  his 
particular  case  and  allow  a  large  amount  of  cot 
ton,  already  bought  and  paid  for,  to  come 

390 


LINCOLN  AND  STANTON 

through  our  lines.  Lincoln  heard  the  man's 
story  and  declined  to  intervene,  but  upon  being 
further  importuned  gave  his  autograph  card  with 
an  introduction  to  Stanton.  The  man  went  over 
to  the  War  Department,  presented  the  card  and 
told  his  story,  whereupon  Stanton  tore  up  the 
President's  card,  threw  it  into  the  waste-basket, 
and  said:  "The  orders  of  this  Department  will 
not  be  changed." 

The  speculator,  who  was  a  man  of  considerable 
prominence,  went  immediately  back  to  the  White 
House  and  told  of  his  reception,  using  strong 
language  and  censuring  Stanton  severely. 

"Mr.  President,"  said  he,  "what  do  you  think 
Stanton  did  with  your  card?" 

"I  don't  know,"  said  Lincoln,  "tell  me." 

"He  tore  it  up  and  threw  it  into  the  waste- 
basket.  He  is  not  a  fit  man  to  be  your  Secretary 
of  War." 

"Did  he  do  that?"  replied  Lincoln;  "well, 
that  's  just  like  Stanton." 

In  the  afternoon,  in  the  presence  of  Major 
Eckert,  the  President  gave  the  Secretary  of  War 
an  account  of  the  incident,  evidently  with  great 
enjoyment,  and  without  taking  the  slightest  ex 
ception  to  Stanton's  course. 

391 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

There  was  a  marked  contrast  between  Lin 
coln's  manner,  which  was  always  pleasant  and 
even  genial,  and  that  of  Stanton.  The  latter's 
stern,  spectacled  visage  commanded  instant  re 
spect  and  in  many  cases  inspired  fear.  In  receiv 
ing  visitors,  and  they  were  legion,  Stanton  sel 
dom  or  never  sat  down,  but  stood  before  a  high 
desk  as  the  crowd  passed  before  him  and  one  by 
one  presented  their  requests  or  complaints,  which 
were  rapidly  disposed  of.  He  was  haughty, 
severe,  domineering,  and  often  rude.  When  I 
think  of  him  in  the  daily  routine  of  his  public 
audiences,  the  characterization  of  Napoleon  by 
Charles  Phillips,  the  Irish  orator,  comes  to  mind : 
"Grand,  gloomy,  and  peculiar." 

The  almost  overwhelming  burden  of  the  great 
struggle  for  the  life  of  the  nation  was  ever  press 
ing  upon  Stanton's  heart  and  brain,  and  he  even 
begrudged  the  time  which  he  believed  was  wasted 
in  ordinary  civilities  and  was  impatient  with 
every  one  who  failed  to  show  like  zeal  and  alert 
ness  with  himself.  He  was  not  blessed  with  Lin 
coln's  happy  faculty  of  story-telling  or  exchang 
ing  badinage,  which  to  the  latter  was  a  God- 
given  means  of  relief  from  the  awful  strain  to 
which  he  was  subjected.  And  yet  there  were 

392 


From  a  photograph  by  Davis  and  Hickemeyer.  taken  in  May,  1907 

Charles  Almerin  Tinker  David  Homer  Bates 

Cipher-operator,  War  Department  Manager  and  cipher-operator,  War  Depart- 

telegraph  office,  1861-1869  ment  telegraph  office,  1861-1866 

Thomas  Thompson  Eckert  Albert  Brown  Chandler 

Chief  of  the  War  Department  Telegraph  Cashier  and  cipher-operator,  War  Depart- 

Staff,  1861-1866  ment  telegraph  office,  1863-1866 


LINCOLN  AND  STANTON 

times  when  even  Stanton  would  soften  and  when 
he  would  disclose  a  kindly  nature,  the  knowledge 
of  the  possession  of  which  would  come  as  a  sharp 
surprise  to  any  one  fortunate  enough  to  be  pres 
ent  on  such  an  occasion. 

One  instance  in  my  recollection  occurred  after 
what  seemed  to  me  an  unusual  outburst  of  temper 
visited  upon  my  innocent  head.  This  was  in  con 
nection  with  the  receipt  of  the  sensational  Sher 
man-Johnston  Peace  Agreement  which  reached 
Washington  on  April  21,  1865  (only  six  days 
after  Lincoln's  death),  the  contents  of  which 
were  of  such  an  extraordinary  character  as  to 
cause  Stanton  to  become  intensely  excited.  In 
fact,  every  high  official  of  the  Government,  not 
excluding  General  Grant,  was  amazed  at  Sher 
man's  action  in  signing  such  an  agreement. 
Major  A.  E.  H.  Johnson  has  told  me  that  Secre 
tary  Stanton  on  one  occasion,  when  he  was  dis 
cussing  the  subject,  said  that  President  Johnson 
at  the  historical  conference  on  the  evening  of 
April  21,  in  Representative  Hooper's  house,1 
after  hearing  Stanton  read  over  his  "Nine  Rea 
sons  why  the  Sherman-Johnston  Agreement 

1  President  Johnson  had  not  yet  moved  into  the  White  House. 
The  Hooper  house  was  later  altered  into  a  hotel — the  Shoreham. 

395 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

should  be  rejected  by  the  Government/'  re 
marked  that  Sherman  was  a  traitor. 

In  preparation  for  this  hastily  called  cabinet 
meeting,  Stanton  called  me  in  from  the  cipher- 
room  and  asked  me  to  write  from  his  dictation, 
the  regular  clerical  staff  of  the  secretary's  office 
having  gone  home  for  the  day.  Although  as  a 
telegrapher  I  was  a  rapid  penman,  my  task  was 
not  an  easy  one,  for  the  great  War  Secretary's 
sentences  came  tumbling  from  his  lips  in  an  im 
petuous  torrent  and  it  was  impossible  for  me  to 
keep  up  the  pace  he  set.  In  fact,  even  a  short 
hand  writer  would  probably  have  stumbled,  so 
that  breaks  were  frequent  and  equally  annoying 
to  both  of  us.  I  did  my  best,  but  lost  some  words 
and  transposed  others,  so  that  the  fiery  dic 
tator  was  forced  to  go  back  several  times  in  his 
train  of  thought  and  reconstruct  sentences,  and 
in  doing  so  here  and  there  he  used  phrases  dif 
ferent  from  those  in  his  original  composition. 
The  final  result  was  therefore  unsatisfactory,  and 
Stanton  in  his  eagerness  snatched  the  manuscript 
from  my  hands,  with  some  remarks  that  would 
not  look  well  in  print. 

Taking  a  pen  in  his  hand  and  dipping  it  vigor 
ously  into  the  inkstand  he  proceeded  to  rewrite 

396 


LINCOLN  AND  STANTON 

a  considerable  part  of  the  document  himself. 
Having  done  this,  he  read  it  over  to  me  carefully 
and  then  had  me  write  a  new  copy  entire,  while 
he  paced  back  and  forth  across  the  room  impa 
tient  of  the  fast-speeding  minutes,  and  occasion 
ally  looking  over  my  shoulder  to  see  how  far  I 
had  progressed.  At  last  the  final  copy  was  ready, 
and  I  handed  it  to  him  and  started  to  go  into  the 
cipher-room  adjoining,  when  he  called  me  back 
and,  placing  his  hand  affectionately  on  my  shoul 
der,  said,  "I  was  too  hasty  with  you,  Mr.  Bates. 
The  fault  was  mine  in  expecting  you  to  keep  up 
with  my  rapid  dictation;  but  I  was  so  indignant 
at  General  Sherman  for  having  presumed  to  enter 
into  such  an  arrangement  with  the  enemy,  that  I 
forgot  everything  else.  I  beg  your  pardon,  my 


son." 


Another  incident  occurs  to  my  mind,  showing 
how  very  thin  was  the  outer  crust  of  his  harsh 
manner  and  how  readily  at  times  it  could  be 
broken  so  as  to  reveal  the  inherent  kindness  of 
his  heart. 

One  evening,  in  the  summer  of  1864,  I  rode 
out  to  the  Soldiers  Home  with  important  de 
spatches  for  the  President  and  Secretary  of  War, 
who  were  temporarily  domiciled  with  their  fami- 

397 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

lies  in  cottages  on  the  grounds  of  the  Home.  I 
found  Stanton  reclining  on  the  grass,  playing 
with  Lewis,  one  of  his  children  (now  living  in 
New  Orleans).  He  invited  me  to  a  seat  on  the 
greensward  while  he  read  the  telegrams;  and 
then,  business  being  finished,  we  began  talking 
of  early  times  in  Steubenville,  Ohio,  his  native 
town  and  mine.  One  of  us  mentioned  the  game 
of  "mumble-the-peg,"  and  he  asked  me  if  I  could 
play  it.  Of  course  I  said  yes,  and  he  proposed 
that  we  should  have  a  game  then  and  there. 
Stanton  entered  into  the  spirit  of  the  boyish 
sport  with  great  zest,  and  for  the  moment  all  the 
perplexing  questions  of  the  terrible  war  were 
forgotten.  I  do  not  remember  who  won. 

My  comrade,  Wilson,  tells  of  a  somewhat  simi 
lar  experience  with  Lincoln,  in  his  "From  the 
Hudson  to  the  Ohio"  (page  46) .  In  the  fall  of 
1861,  Wilson  had  gone  to  the  White  House  with 
an  urgent  despatch  from  Governor  Morton  of 
Indiana,  which  the  President  concluded  to  an 
swer  by  means  of  a  direct  wire-talk  from  the  War 
Department.  Wilson  adds: 

Calling  one  of  his  two  younger  boys  (Willie  or  Tad)  to 
join  him,  we  three  started.  ...  It  was  a  warm  day,  and 
Mr.  Lincoln  wore  as  part  of  his  costume  a  faded  linen  duster 

398 


LINCOLN  AND  STANTON 

which  hung  loosely  around  his  long  gaunt  frame ;  his  kindly 
eye  was  beaming  with  good  nature.  .  .  .  We  had  barely 
reached  the  gravel  walk  before  he  stooped  over,  picked  up  a 
round,  smooth  pebble  and  shooting  it  off  his  thumb,  chal 
lenged  us  to  a  game  of  "followings,"  which  we  accepted. 
Each  in  turn  tried  to  hit  the  outlying  stone  which  was  con 
stantly  being  projected  onward  by  the  President.  The 
game  was  short  but  exciting  .  .  .  and  when  the  President 
was  declared  victor  it  was  only  by  a  hand-span.  .  .  .  He 
softened  our  defeat  by  attributing  his  success  to  his  greater 
height  and  longer  reach  of  arm. 

Although  to  his  family  and  chosen  friends, 
and,  on  rare  occasions,  to  others,  Stanton  dis 
closed  a  warm,  tender  heart,  yet  in  the  daily 
routine  of  the  War  Department  he  was  intensely 
in  earnest,  and  required  of  every  one  else  a  like 
zeal  and  devotion  and  an  utter  sacrifice  of  self 
and  of  personal  comfort  whenever  the  interests 
of  the  Government  were  concerned.  He  hated 
disloyalty  and  had  no  patience  with  critics  of  his 
administration.  Accordingly  he  was  brusk  and 
many  times  rude  to  newspaper  men,  members  of 
Congress  and  others  who  applied  to  him  for  news 
or  favors  or  who  called  upon  him  in  support  of 
claims  that  had  already  been  rejected. 

In  contrast,  Lincoln  freely  told  to  callers  the 
contents  of  despatches  from  the  armies,  and 
there  were  some  occasions  on  which  he  disclosed 

399 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

to  the  public  in  advance  information  relating  to 
army  manoeuvers  of  special  importance,  which 
leaked  through  to  the  enemy,  with  the  result  of 
defeating  our  plans.  So  it  came  to  pass  that  we 
were  ordered  by  Stanton  not  to  place  in  the 
cipher-drawer  copies  of  despatches  which  told 
of  expected  army  movements,  or  which  related 
to  actual  or  impending  battles,  until  after  he 
had  first  seen  them;  and  in  some  instances  the 
Secretary  retained  both  copies  to  make  sure  their 
contents  should  not  be  prematurely  published. 

Lincoln's  keen  eyes  soon  discovered  that  there 
was  undue  reticence  in  our  attitude  toward  him, 
and  without  criticizing  our  course,  he  would  ask 
us  occasionally,  with  twinkling  eyes,  whether  the 
Secretary  of  War  did  not  have  some  later  news, 
or  if  there  were  not  "something  under  the  blot 
ter."  Of  course  we  could  not  deceive  him  and 
he  would  then  go  to  the  adjoining  room  and  ask 
Stanton  if  he  had  anything  from  the  front. 
Sometimes  he  addressed  Stanton  as  "Mars,"  but 
while  the  stern  Secretary  gave  no  indication  of 
displeasure  at  this  playful  allusion  to  his  official 
character,  he  did  not,  on  the  other  hand,  allow 
a  smile  to  brighten  his  face. 

Early  in  February,  1862,  the  morning  after 
400 


LINCOLN  AND  STANTON 

the  interview  referred  to  in  chapter  IX,  when 
Stanton,  in  the  presence  of  President  Lincoln 
and  Governor  Brough  of  Ohio,  tore  up  Eckert's 
resignation,  Lincoln  called  on  the  latter  at  Mc- 
Clellan's  headquarters  and,  referring  to  the  inter 
view,  said  that  he  was  glad  to  have  been  able  to 
testify  concerning  Eckert's  attention  to  duty, 
adding  that  Stanton's  manner  was  very  peculiar, 
but  that  he  was  all  right  when  people  came  to 
know  him.  He  said  that  he  was  a  most  remark 
able  man ;  that  he  first  became  aware  of  his  great 
abilities  when  they  met  years  before  in  Cincinnati 
in  the  McCormick  Reaper  case,  in  which  Lincoln 
and  Stanton  had  been  retained  for  the  defense; 
and  that  after  he  had  heard  Stanton's  masterly 
presentation  of  that  case  he  said  to  one  of  his  asso 
ciates  that  he  was  going  home  to  study  law,  as 
he  had  found  out,  after  hearing  Stanton,  that  he 
knew  very  little  about  it. 

In  his  "Recollections  of  President  Lincoln" 
(page  186),  L.  E.  Chittenden  says  that  at  the 
moment  of  Lincoln's  death,  Stanton  uttered  this 
eulogy:  "There  lies  the  most  perfect  ruler  of  men 
the  world  has  ever  seen." 

In  August,  1865,  Stanton  left  Washington  for 
a  few  weeks'  vacation,  the  first  he  had  been  per- 

401 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

mitted  to  take  for  five  years.  I  accompanied  him 
as  cipher-operator.  He  visited  Simeon  Draper, 
Collector  of  the  Port,  and  a  Mr.  Duer  at  New 
York,  Isaac  Bell  at  Tarrytown,  a  Mr.  Minturn 
at  The  Highlands,  New  Jersey ;  Samuel  Hooper 
at  Boston,  and  a  Mr.  Hone  at  Newport.  This 
respite  was  greatly  enjoyed  by  Stanton.  During 
Stanton's  absence  on  this  trip  our  chief,  General 
Eckert,  the  Assistant  Secretary,  became  the  Act 
ing  Secretary  of  War.  Stanton's  death  occurred 
December  24,  1869,  the  year  following  his  pro 
tracted  and  bitter  struggle  with  President  John 
son,  and  at  the  very  time  that  President  Grant 
had  offered  him  the  much-coveted  prize  of  a  seat 
on  the  Supreme  Court  bench.  He  lived  and  died 
a  relatively  poor  man.  In  the  writer's  opinion  it 
is  a  nation's  shame  that  his  extraordinary  services 
to  his  country  in  her  time  of  stress  and  need  have 
not  been  suitably  recognized  by  the  erection  of 
a  monument  to  his  memory  at  the  nation's  capital. 
General  McClellan  has  been  so  honored  recently, 
and  at  Richmond  Jefferson  Davis  and  Generals 
Lee  and  Stuart  are  also  remembered,  but  our  own 
great  War  Secretary  to  whom  the  country  owes 
so  much  has  apparently  been  forgotten. 

Eckert  always  commanded  the  full  confidence 
402 


LINCOLN  AND  STANTON 

of  President  Lincoln  and  Secretary  Stanton,  and 
was  intrusted  with  military  and  state  secrets  and 
charged  with  special  commissions  not  at  first  dis 
closed  to  the  cipher-operators,  who  were  justly 
proud  of  their  Chief. 

Although  holding  a  commission  Eckert  never 
wore  an  officer's  uniform.  His  appointment  as 
Assistant  Secretary  of  War,  really  took  effect  in 
March,  1865,  although  the  official  date  is  given  as 
July  27,  1866.  In  this  connection,  and  as  show 
ing  the  high  appreciation  in  which  he  was  held  by 
both  Lincoln  and  Stanton,  it  is  proper  to  state 
that  in  August,  1865,  when  the  Western  Union 
and  American  Telegraph  companies  were  about  to 
be  consolidated,  he  was  offered  a  prominent  posi 
tion  with  the  joint  companies  and  tendered  his 
resignation  to  Secretary  Stanton,  who  was  about 
to  leave  Washington  on  the  vacation  referred  to 
on  page  401.  Stanton  started  to  write  an  ac 
ceptance,  but  Eckert  observed  that  he  was  evi 
dently  laboring  under  strong  feeling,  and  said 
that  if  the  Secretary  preferred  to  have  him  re 
main  for  another  year,  he  would  do  so.  Stanton 
gladly  accepted  this  offer  and  laid  aside  the  docu 
ment  on  which  he  was  engaged.  He  then  re 
sumed  his  vacation  plans,  placing  Eckert  in 

403 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

charge  as  Acting  Secretary  of  War  from  August 
15,  to  September  23,  1865.  I  was  selected  as 
cipher-operator  to  accompany  Stanton  on  this 
trip,  which  occupied  five  weeks. 

A  year  later  when  Eckert  entered  the  service 
of  the  Western  Union  Company,  Stanton  handed 
him  an  envelop  containing  the  partly  finished 
acceptance  of  his  resignation,  dated  August  7, 
186  ,  and  another  autographic  communication 
over  his  signature  bearing  only  the  year  date, 
1866.  The  latter  had  been  written  by  Stanton 
in  anticipation  of  Eckert's  departure  and  laid 
aside  until  July  31,  1866,  the  day  Eckert  left 
Washington  for  his  new  duties,  and  Stanton  did 
not  then  stop  to  insert  the  full  date. 

Stanton's  remark  at  the  time  these  letters  were 
delivered  to  Eckert  was,  "Don't  open  the  envelop 
until  you  reach  New  York."  The  second  of  these 
communications  is  here  shown  in  facsimile. 


War  Department 
Washington  City, 

Aug.  7,  186  . 
MY  DEAR  FRIEND: 

The  acceptance  of  your  resignation  as  Assistant  Secre 
tary  of  War  is  one  of  the  most  painful  events  of  my  life, 
not  only  because  it  severs  official  relations  that  have  given 
me  great  aid  and  comfort  in  the  performance  of  my  duties, 

404 


wv 

\- 

-VJ.  v       %Vvfr\  \aV-V>^ 

Lw^^v,  c^t^w*^  ^«x  ^.4*  ,<*> i^-  \r> 

^vwit.    *«    «^«-  Vtf^KLvi- 


Facsimile  (reduced)  of  Secretary  Stanton's  letter  accepting 
Major  Eckert's  resignation 


LINCOLN  AND  STANTON 

but  also  sunders  to  some  extent  the  close  personal  relations 
and  daily  intercourse  between  us  that  has  so  long  existed. 
It  would  be  a  vain  effort  to  express  the  full  confidence  and 
depth  of  affection  my  heart  entertains  towards  you.  The 
highest  and  most  responsible  trust  of  the  Government  dur 
ing  the  war  you,  as  Superintendent  of  Military  .  .  . 


War  Department 
Washington  City, 
186  . 
MY  DEAR  SIR: 

It  is  with  very  great  regret  that  I  am  constrained  out  of 
regard  for  your  own  personal  interest  and  welfare  to  accept 
your  resignation  as  Acting  Secretary  of  War  and  Superin 
tendent  of  Military  Telegraphs.  My  personal  and  official 
intercourse  with  you  will  always  be  among  the  most  pleasing 
recollections  of  my  life.  Your  zeal,  fidelity  and  laborious 
diligence  for  years  to  the  prejudice  of  your  health  and  com 
fort,  contributed  much  to  the  successful  operations  of  this 
Department  during  the  War  of  the  Rebellion.  You  have 
had  and  well  deserved  my  unlimited  confidence.  To  your 
discretion  and  patriotic  fidelity  the  most  important  and  con 
fidential  interests  of  the  Government  were  often  entrusted, 
and  the  trust  reposed  in  you  was  never  betrayed  or  per 
verted.  You  had  the  good  fortune  to  have  enjoyed  the  per 
sonal  regard  and  confidence  of  our  late  beloved  President 
Abraham  Lincoln  to  a  degree  seldom  bestowed. 

It  is  with  feelings  of  profound  sorrow,  and  with  my 
thanks  for  your  inestimable  aid,  that  I  bid  you  an  official 
farewell.  Yours  truly, 

EDWIN  M.  STANTON, 
Secretary  of  War. 

Brevet  Brig  General  Thomas  T.  Eckert. 

407 


LINCOLN  IN  THE  TELEGRAPH  OFFICE 

On  August  1,  1866,  General  Eckert  entered 
the  service  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph 
Company  as  general  superintendent  of  the  east- 
f  ern  division,  afterward  becoming  general  man 
ager,  and  later  president.  He  is  now  chairman 
of  the  board,  and  although  eighty-six  years  of 
age,  is  still  active  and  vigorous.  While  he  is  stern 
and  at  times  implacable  toward  those  who  have 
deviated  from  the  path  of  rectitude,  below  the  sur 
face  there  beats  a  heart  full  of  warm  affection  for 
his  chosen  friends  and  of  unswerving  loyalty  to 
whatever  cause  he  may  espouse.  The  surviving 
members  of  his  staff  of  cipher-operators  in  the 
War  Department — Tinker,  Chandler,  and  my 
self — have  been  associated  with  him  in  business 
positions  of  trust  and  responsibility  for  many 
years.  The  quartet  has  not  yet  been  disturbed 
by  the  grim  reaper  Death,  although  we  some 
times  fancy  we  can  hear  him  sharpening  his 
scythe,  as  we  journey  down  the  narrowing  lane 
of  life. 

THE  writer  could  wish  that  this  desultory  account 
of  "Lincoln  in  the  Telegraph  Office"  were  more 
worthy  of  the  subject.  The  task,  though  some 
what  arduous,  has  been  a  pleasant  one.  It  has 

408 


LINCOLN  AND  STANTON 

called  back  to  memory  conversations  and  inci 
dents  through  which  there  was  revealed  to  the  ci 
pher-operators  in  the  War  Department  tele 
graph  office,  more  fully  perhaps  than  to  others, 
Lincoln's  simple  yet  varied  and  lofty  character, 
which  has  since  become  the  object  of  wonder  and 
admiration  of  the  civilized  world:  his  marvelous 
tact  in  the  handling  of  men  and  the  settlement 
of  complex  questions;  his  skilful  leading  of  pub 
lic  opinion  into  broader  channels;  his  control  of 
great  events ;  his  gathering  up  of  the  fruits  of  po 
litical  conflict,  and,  above  all,  his  boundless  charity 
for  and  deep  sympathy  with  the  common  people. 
Ever  since  the  first  announcement  in  "The 
Telegraph  Age"  of  a  purpose  to  prepare  an  ac 
count  of  Lincoln  in  the  telegraph  office,  the  wri 
ter's  comrades  in  the  military  telegraph  service 
in  all  parts  of  the  country  have  freely  tendered 
full  and  interesting  data  in  their  own  experience, 
and  this  occasion  is  availed  of  to  thank  them  most 
sincerely  for  their  valuable  help ;  the  only  regret 
being  that  the  limits  of  this  volume  have  made  it 
necessary  to  leave  out  so  much  that  would  have 
been  of  general  interest. 


25 


409 


APPENDIX 


APPENDIX 


To  CHAPTER  II 

IN  Senate  Document  Number  251,  Fifty-eighth  Con 
gress,  2d  Session,  may  be  found  a  general,  but  quite 
clear,  idea  of  the  organization,  scope,  and  service  of  the 
United  States  Military  Telegraph  Corps  during  the 
Civil  War.  The  documents  therein  quoted  by  General 
Ainsworth  begin  with  the  order  of  Simon  Cameron,  Sec 
retary  of  War,  dated  April  27,  1861,  placing  Colonel 
Thomas  A.  Scott  in  charge  of  railways  and  telegraphs 
and  end  with  an  extract  from  the  annual  report  of 
Edwin  M.  Stanton,  Secretary  of  War,  dated  November 
22,  1865. 


To  CHAPTER  VII 

See  Page  110 

THE  full  story  of  the  mutilation  of  McClellan's  tele 
gram  to  the  Secretary  of  War  of  June  28,  1862,  is  told 
for  the  first  time  by  Major  A.  E.  H.  Johnson,  Stanton's 
confidential  clerk  and  custodian  of  military  telegrams 
during  the  war,  in  a  letter  to  the  writer.  He  says : 

When  the  telegram  was  received  in  cipher  and  translated, 
Major  Eckert,  chief  of  the  War  Department  telegraph 
staff,  sent  for  Colonel  Edwards  S.  Sanford,  military  super 
visor  of  telegrams,  and  asked  him  to  decide  what  should  be 

413 


APPENDIX 

done.  The  charge  against  Secretary  Stanton  contained  in 
the  two  paragraphs  at  the  close  of  the  despatch  was  false 
and  while  it  was  doubtful  whether  the  censor  had  authority 
to  suppress  a  telegram  from  the  commanding  general  of  the 
army  addressed  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  yet  this  one  con 
tained  such  an  outrageous  untruth  that  the  censor  thought 
he  ought  not  to  allow  himself  to  be  used  to  hand  it  to  the 
Secretary  in  that  form.  Colonel  Sanford  thereupon  caused 
the  despatch,  minus  the  offensive  words,  to  be  recopied  and 
delivered  to  Secretary  Stanton,  who  took  it  in  person  to 
President  Lincoln.  Neither  Lincoln  nor  Stanton  knew  of 
the  mutilation  and  both  acted  upon  it  in  ignorance  of  the  ter 
rible  charge  against  them  which  it  had  previously  contained. 
The  first  copy  of  the  telegram  as  received  was  destroyed. 
The  mutilated  copy  published  in  the  Rebellion  Records  was 
taken  from  the  collection  made  to  be  delivered  to  Stanton  at 
the  close  of  the  war.  It  may  also  be  found  on  page  302, 
Vol.  I.  of  the  Report  of  the  Committee  on  the  Conduct  of 
the  War,  in  connection  with  General  Hitchcock's  testimony 
in  the  McDowell  court  of  inquiry. 


To  CHAPTER  VIII 

See  Page  118 

THE  "Story  of  the  Monitor"  by  William  S.  Wells 
(late  engineer  United  States  Navy),  pages  14  and  77, 
mentions  a  conference  at  Washington  in  1861  between 
President  Lincoln,  Captain  G.  V.  Fox,  Assistant  Secre 
tary  of  the  Navy,  and  other  members  of  the  Naval 
Board,  and  John  A.  Griswold,  John  F.  Winslow,  and 
Cornelius  S.  Bushnell  (the  last  three  later  becoming 
the  contractors  for  building  Ericsson's  turret  vessel, 
the  Monitor).  At  this  conference  a  pasteboard  model 

414 


APPENDIX 

of  Ericsson's  invention  was  shown,  and  its  merits  and 
peculiar  advantages  discussed. 

Colonel  William  Conant  Church,  in  his  "Life  of  John 
Ericsson,"  page  249,  also  refers  to  this  conference,  and 
quotes  from  a  letter  of  Bushnell  dated  March  9,  1877, 
to  Gideon  Welles,  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  containing 
the  following  extract: 

All  were  surprised  at  the  novelty  of  the  plan;  some  ad 
vised  trying  it,  others  ridiculed  it.  The  conference  was  fi 
nally  closed  by  Mr.  Lincoln  remarking:  "All  I  have  to  say 
is  what  the  girl  said  when  she  put  her  foot  into  the  stocking, 
'It  strikes  me  there  's  something  in  it.'  " 

In  a  foot-note  Colonel  Church  says: 

Mr.  Bushnell  was  given  a  pasteboard  model  of  the  Moni 
tor,  admirably  illustrating  the  easy  method  of  training  the 
guns  by  rotating  the  turret.  It  was  this  that  struck  Mr. 
Lincoln  and  which  he  held  in  his  hand  when  he  remarked 
about  the  girl  and  her  stocking. 

It  is  of  interest  to  recall  that  Lincoln's  early  expe 
rience  with  light-draft  flat-boats  on  shallow  western 
rivers  qualified  him  to  speak  with  authority  on  the 
subject  when  the  model  of  the  Monitor  was  shown  to 
him. 

MAJOR  A.  E.  H.  JOHNSON,  who  was  employed  in  Edwin 
M.  Stanton's  patent  law  office  before  the  war,  and  who 
still  practises  his  profession  in  Washington,  D.  C., 
writes,  June  7,  1907,  that  the  model  of  Lincoln's  inven 
tion  described  in  Letters  Patent,  Number  6469,  granted 

415 


APPENDIX 

May  22,  1849,  for  a  "Method  of  Lifting  Vessels  over 
Shoals,"  is  still  preserved  in  the  Patent  Office  at  Wash 
ington.  Major  Johnson  adds  that  "instead  of  being  a 
freak  invention  as  claimed  by  some,  it  was  a  pioneer 
conception  in  the  art  of  navigation,  and  the  air-tight 
compartments  of  our  great  sea-going  ships  are  valid 
proofs  of  the  utility  of  Lincoln's  air-chamber  device. 
If  this  be  true,  Lincoln  should  be  classed  among  the 
great  inventors  of  the  nineteenth  century." 

The  basic  value  of  Lincoln's  invention  is  emphasized 
by  the  salvage  of  the  twelve-thousand-ton  vessel,  the 
Bavarian,  shipwrecked  in  the  St.  Lawrence  near  Quebec 
on  the  night  of  November  3,  1905,  after  repeated  ef 
forts  had  been  made  to  float  her  by  various  methods. 
When  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars 
had  been  expended  by  the  owners,  the  Bavarian  was 
turned  over  to  the  underwriters,  who  also  spent  a  large 
amount  of  money  without  satisfactory  result.  Then 
Robert  King  and  William  Witherspoon,  two  young 
engineers  who  had  done  more  or  less  tunnel  and  caisson 
work  by  means  of  compressed  air,  tackled  the  problem, 
and  on  November  16,  1906,  the  great  Bavarian  was 
raised  and  a  half  million  dollars  saved  to  the  under 
writers.  In  their  last  analysis  the  methods  employed 
in  this  case  resemble,  in  principle,  the  somewhat  crude 
devices  in  the  patent  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

See  Page  123 

CAPTAIN  SAMUEL,  H.  BECKWITH,  General  Grant's  cipher- 
operator,  has  recently  sent  the  writer  a  copy  of  one  of 
President  Lincoln's  characteristic  laconic  despatches, 
which  he  does  not  recall  having  seen  in  print,  as  follows : 

416 


APPENDIX 

GENERAL  PHILIP  H.  SHERIDAN, 

Winchester,  Virginia. 

General  Grant  telegraphs  me  that  if  you  push  the  enemy 
you  can  force  Early  out  of  the  Shenandoah  Valley — Push 
him.  A.  LINCOLN. 

The  copy  bears  no  date,  but  Beckwith  says,  "I  wit 
nessed  the  writing  and  transmission  of  the  despatch, 
which  to  my  knowledge  has  not  been  heretofore  pub 
lished.  I  think  it  was  before  Fisher's  Hill  where  Sher 
idan  did  'push  him,'  capturing  nearly  all  of  Fvarly's 
guns.  When  Sheridan's  despatch  announcing  this  vic 
tory  was  handed  to  Grant,  I  inquired  if  there  was  any 
thing  more  that  Sheridan  could  take.  Grant's  silent, 
pleasant  smile  assured  me  of  his  victory  over  the  wise 
men  at  Washington  who  had  claimed  that  Sheridan  was 
'too  young'  for  the  great  responsibilities  which  Grant 
had  placed  upon  him." 


To  CHAPTER  XII 

See  Page  159 

THE   following   incident   indicates   Lincoln's    great   in 
terest  in  Rosecrans's  victory  at  Stone's  River : 

In  January,  1863,  not  long  after  the  battle,  Rose- 
crans  wrote  a  letter  to  the  President  stating  his  position 
in  detail  and  the  need  of  reinforcements,  which  was 
carried  to  Washington  by  Captain  George  C.  Kniffin 
of  General  Crittenden's  staff,  and  handed  to  Lincoln 
in  person.  In  his  War  Paper,  Number  47,  read  at  the 
meeting  of  the  Loyal  Legion,  Commandery  of  the 
District  of  Columbia,  on  March  6,  1903,  Colonel  Kniffin 

4,17 


APPENDIX 

gives  an  account  of  that  interview  from  which  the  fol 
lowing  extract  is  taken: 

An  intense  earnestness  exhibited  itself  in  his  anxious  in 
quiry,  "Are  you  from  Murf  reesboro  ?"  "Yes,  Mr.  Presi 
dent;  and  I  am  the  bearer  of  an  important  despatch  from 
General  Rosecrans,"  which  I  handed  to  him  at  once,  and 
noting  the  legend  "Personal"  on  the  envelop,  he  placed  it 
in  his  pocket.  We  were  alone  in  the  room.  He  motioned 
me  to  a  seat  and  pushed  a  sheet  of  paper  toward  me  with 
the  remark:  "Now  tell  me  all  about  it."  "About  what?" 
Suddenly  the  thought  occurred  to  me  to  describe  the  battle 
of  Stone's  River.  .  .  .  Improvising  a  ruler  with  my  staff 
sword,  I  drew  two  lines  crossing  each  other  at  an  acute  an 
gle,  which  represented  the  railroad  and  turnpike  leading 
from  Nashville  to  Murfreesboro.  I  then  drew,  from  mem 
ory,  a  map  which  I  still  think  was  a  tolerably  correct  rep 
resentation  of  the  topography  of  the  country.  I  aligned  the 
troops  under  Rosecrans  across  the  turnpike  and  railroad  as 
they  went  into  bivouac  on  the  night  of  December  30,  1862. 
I  stationed  the  batteries  of  artillery  and  gave  the  position  of 
the  cavalry.  Then  I  gave  as  nearly  as  possible  the  position 
and  strength  of  the  enemy.  The  President  took  an  absorb 
ing  interest  in  my  work  as  it  progressed,  asking  questions, 
which  I  answered  as  intelligently  as  possible.  I  then  de 
scribed  the  battle,  how  we  repulsed  the  final  charge  of 
Breckenridge  and  drove  them  back  pell-mell  into  Murfrees 
boro  and  compelled  Bragg  to  evacuate  the  place.  I  spoke 
rapidly,  and  during  my  recital  the  President  sat  motionless. 
When  I  had  finished,  for  the  first  time  I  raised  my  head 
and  looked  about  me.  Standing,  peering  over  each  other's 
shoulders  at  the  map  of  the  battle-field  which  I  had  drawn, 
listening  so  intently  that  I  was  not  aware  of  their  presence, 
was  an  august  assembly,  members  of  the  cabinet  and  of  the 

418 


APPENDIX 

Senate  and  House,  all  of  sufficient  prominence  to  be  ad 
mitted  to  the  President's  room  without  the  formality  of  an 
introductory  card.  I  was  greatly  embarrassed,  but  was 
speedily  reassured  by  the  kindhearted  President,  who  intro 
duced  me  to  each  gentleman  present. 


To   CHAPTER  XIII 

THE  following  despatches  relate  to  the  transfer  of 
Hooker's  two  army  corps  to  Chattanooga  for  the  rein 
forcement  of  Rosecrans : 


Camden  Station,  Md.,  Sept.  27,  1863. 
EDWIN  M.  STANTON, 

Secretary  of  War, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Our  agent  at  Grafton  has  orders  to  hold  all  the  3rd  Di 
vision,  llth  Corps,  until  General  Schurz  arrives. 

W.  P.  SMITH. 


War  Department,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Sept.  27,  1863,  9:40  P.M. 
MAJOR-GENERAL  CARL  SCHURZ, 

Fairmont,  W.  Va. 

Major-General  Hooker  has  the  orders  of  this  department 
to  relieve  you  and  put  under  arrest  any  officer  who  under 
takes  to  delay  or  interfere  with  the  orders  and  requisitions  of 
the  railroad  officers  in  charge  of  the  transportation  of 
troops. 

EDWIN  M.  STANTON,  Secy,  of  War. 

419 


APPENDIX 

Sept.  27,  1863,9:40  P.M. 
W.  P.  SMITH,  General  Manager, 

Baltimore  fy  Ohio  Railroad  Co., 

Camden  Station. 

I  have  telegraphed  Schurz  that  he  will  be  relieved  and 
put  under  arrest  if  he  undertakes  to  interfere  with  the 
trains.  You  need  not  have  furnished  him  an  extra  but  let 
him  and  any  of  the  other  officers  who  lag  behind  get  along 
the  best  they  can. 

EDWIN  M.  STANTON,  Secy,  of  War. 

Baltimore,  Md.,  Sept.  27,  1863,  11  P.M. 
EDWIN  M.  STANTON, 

Secretary  of  War, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

It  is  only  by  a  wilful  delay  by  our  operator  at 
Grafton  of  Schurz's  message  to  Fairmont  that  the  deten 
tion  of  the  troops  there  was  avoided. 

W.  P.  SMITH. 

The  above  official  correspondence  from  the  Rebellion 
Records,  Vol.  XXIX,  will  surely  indicate  that  the  suc 
cessful  movement  of  so  large  a  body  of  troops  for  so 
great  a  distance  in  an  incredibly  short  period  of  time 
was  only  possible  by  keeping  the  transportation  wholly 
under  the  control  of  the  railroad  officers  themselves.  It 
also  shows  bow  narrow  an  escape  General  Carl  Schurz 
had  from  being  placed  under  arrest  for  his  attempted 
interference  with  tbe  trains.  Immediately  upon 
Schurz's  arrival  at  Bridgeport,  Alabama,  October  1, 
1863,  be  wrote  a  long  letter  to  Secretary  Stanton  ex 
plaining  his  action,  which  communication  was  forwarded 
to  Washington  by  General  Howard,  corps  commander, 

420 


APPENDIX 

with  an  indorsement  favorable  to  Schurz.     There  is  no 
record  that  Stanton  ever  replied  to  Schurz's  letter. 


To  CHAPTER  XIV 

IN  a  letter  to  the  editor  of  "The  Century  Magazine," 
Captain  D.  V.  Purington,  of  Chicago,  says: 

Mr.  Bates's  reference  in  the  July  "Century"  [1907]  to 
the  fact  that  not  all  the  stories  attributed  to  Mr.  Lincoln 
were  really  his,  calls  to  my  mind  a  little  incident  that  cor 
roborates  Mr.  Bates's  position. 

Early  in  the  winter  of  1864-5,  President  Lincoln  visited 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac  and  the  Army  of  the  James.  Gen 
eral  Godfrey  Weitzel  was  at  that  time  commanding  the  25th 
Army  Corps,  and  Dutch  Gap  was  within  the  limits  of  his 
command.  Mr.  Lincoln  desired  to  see  this  particular  work 
of  the  army  engineers.  Arrangements  were  made,  and  he 
was  escorted  from  corps  headquarters  by  General  Weitzel 
and  his  entire  staff,  of  which  the  writer  was  a  junior  mem 
ber.  On  the  return  of  the  party,  Mr.  Lincoln  was  invited  to 
lunch  with  the  General  and  his  staff.  It  was  my  privilege 
to  be  seated  at  the  table  immediately  opposite  the  President, 
and  to  listen  to  the  conversation  between  him  and  General 
Weitzel.  After  we  had  all  enjoyed  some  story  of  Mr.  Lin 
coln's  (which  I  am  sorry  to  have  forgotten),  General  Weit 
zel  said:  "Mr.  President,  about  what  proportion  of  the 
stories  attributed  to  you  really  belong  to  you?" 

Mr.  Lincoln  replied:  "I  do  not  know;  but  of  those  I  have 
seen,  I  should  say  just  about  one  half." 

The  percentage  of  genuine  to  the  whole  number  of 
so-called  Lincoln  stories  has  probably  decreased  con- 

421 


APPENDIX 

siderably  since  the  President's  estimate  of  "about  one 
half." 


To  CHAPTER  XVIII 

See  Page  252 

BRIGADIER-GENERAL  J.  P.  S.  GOBIN,  in  a  paper  read  at 
the  memorial  meeting  of  the  Pennsylvania  Commandery 
of  the  Military  Order  of  the  Loyal  Legion,  Philadel 
phia,  February  13,  1907,  makes  the  following  reference 
to  Lincoln's  presence  at  Fort  Stevens  on  July  12,  1864: 

L.  E.  Chittenden,  in  his  "Reminiscences"  says  that  when 
he  reached  the  Fort,,  he  found  the  President,  Secretary 
Stanton  and  other  civilians.  A  young  colonel  of  artillery, 
who  appeared  to  be  the  officer  of  the  day,  was  in  great  dis 
tress  because  the  President  would  expose  himself  and  paid 
little  attention  to  his  warnings.  He  was  satisfied  the  Con 
federates  had  recognized  him,  for  they  were  firing  at  him 
very  hotly,  and  a  soldier  near  him  had  just  fallen  from  a 
broken  thigh.  He  asked  my  advice,  says  Chittenden,  for  he 
said  the  President  was  in  great  danger.  After  some  consul 
tation  the  young  officer  walked  to  where  the  President  was 
looking  over  the  edge  of  the  parapet  and  said:  "Mr.  Presi 
dent,  you  are  standing  within  range  of  five  hundred  rebel  ri 
fles.  Please  come  down  to  a  safer  place.  If  you  do  not,  it 
will  be  my  duty  to  call  a  file  of  men  and  make  yon." 

"And  you  would  do  quite  right,  my  boy,"  said  the  Presi 
dent,  coming  down  at  once.  "You  are  in  command  of  this 
fort.  I  should  be  the  last  man  to  set  an  example  of  disobe 
dience."  He  was  shown  to  a  place  where  the  view  was  less 
extended,  but  where  there  was  almost  no  exposure.  As  Mr. 
Chittenden  was  present  and  speaks  from  personal  know 
ledge,  this  is  assumed  to  be  a  correct  statement. 

422 


APPENDIX 
To  CHAPTER  XX 

See  Page  281 

PRESIDENT  LINCOLN'S  proclamation  announcing  the  ad 
mission  of  Nevada  into  the  Union  was  signed  and  dated 
October  31,  1864,  immediately  after  the  full  text  of 
Nevada's  constitution  had  been  telegraphed  from 
Nevada  City  to  Washington.  The  transmission  of  this 
long  document  required  the  use  of  the  wires  all  day 
October  30  (Sunday),  and  all  that  night.  This  course 
was  taken  in  order  that  Nevada's  electoral  vote  might 
be  counted  in  the  Republican  column. 


To  CHAPTER  XXVI 

JEFFERSON  DAVIS,  in  his  "Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Confed 
erate  Government,"  page  683,  says  concerning  Lin 
coln's  assassination,  the  news  of  which  was  received 
by  him  from  General  Sherman  on  April  18,  1865,  at 
Charlotte : 

For  an  enemy  so  relentless  in  the  war  for  our  subjugation, 
we  could  not  be  expected  to  mourn,  yet,  in  view  of  the  politi 
cal  consequences,  it  could  not  be  regarded  otherwise  than  as 
a  great  misfortune  to  the  South.  .  .  . 


To  CHAPTER  XXVIII 

See  Page  395 

THE  following  communication  from  Major  A.  E.  H. 
Johnson  is  of  historic  interest  in  connection  with  the 
fierce  controversy  between  President  Johnson  and  Sec- 

423 


APPENDIX 

retary  Stanton,  in  which  Generals  Grant  and  Sherman 
were  also  involved: 

Washington,  D.  C.,  August  23,  1907. 
Mr.  David  Homer  Bates,  New  York  City. 

DEAR  SIR  :  Referring  to  your  request  to  give  you  what  in 
formation  I  have  of  the  cabinet  meeting  April  21,  1865,  at 
which  the  Sherman-Johnston  terms  of  surrender  were  re 
jected,  and  particularly,  whether  President  Johnson  spoke 
of  Sherman  as  a  "traitor"  at  that  meeting,  I  know  that  Sec 
retary  Stanton,  in  speaking  of  the  matter  some  years  after, 
said  that  Johnson  referred  to  the  terms  as  being  "close  to 
treason."  I  never  heard  Secretary  Stanton  speak  of 
that  cabinet  meeting  but  once,  and  that  was  at  the  time 
President  Johnson  brought  General  Sherman  to  Washington 
to  help  him  get  rid  of  Stanton  as  Secretary  of  War.  The 
President  knew  that  Sherman  would  be  glad  to  pay  Stanton 
back  for  what  he  did  in  publishing  his  "nine  reasons"  for 
the  rejection  of  the  agreement,  and  as  the  reasons  were 
published  at  the  time  in  the  name  of  the  President,  he 
caused  the  White  House  reporters  to  deny  that  he  knew  of 
Stanton's  reasons  until  he  saw  them  in  the  press  the  morn 
ing  of  their  publication  and  that  he  had  authorized  their 
publication,  so  that  Sherman  might  see  it  as  the  President 
wanted,  that  he  might  use  him  in  the  Johnson-Grant-Sher 
man  fight  to  oust  Stanton.  The  occasion  when  the  Secretary 
spoke  of  this  cabinet  meeting  and  what  was  said  of  Sher 
man,  was  to  Senator  Wilson  of  Massachusetts  and  Congress 
man  Kelley  of  Pennsylvania,  who  were  discussing  with  the 
Secretary  the  presence  of  Sherman  in  Washington  in  con 
nection  with  the  President's  efforts  to  oust  Stanton.  Stan- 
ton  told  them  that  the  President  wanted  Sherman  to  think 
that  he  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  publication  of  the  rea 
sons  for  the  rejection  of  the  terms  and  that  the  President 

424 


APPENDIX 

was  using  the  reporters  for  that  purpose;  but  that  he  was 
taking  good  care  not  to  tell  them  that  at  that  meeting  he  had 
said  of  the  terms  that  they  were  "close  to  treason"  and  that 
Sherman  was  a  "traitor";  and  that  the  terms  would  put  the 
rebel  leaders,  fresh  from  treason,  in  control  of  Congress 
and  in  the  making  of  the  laws. 

This  was  just  what  the  President  then  wanted  to  do  by 
ousting  Stanton;  and  while  all  the  cabinet  denounced  the 
terms,  the  President's  denunciation  was  the  strongest;  and  it 
was  the  President  who  directed  that  General  Grant  be  or 
dered  to  go  at  once  to  take  command  of  the  army  and  give 
battle  again  to  Joe  Johnston. 

Yours  very  truly, 

A.  E.  H.  JOHNSON. 


425 


INDEX 


Act  of  January  26,  1897:  Mili 
tary  Telegraphers'  Certifi 
cates,  36 

Anderson,  Robert,  344 
Arnold,  Samuel,  379 
Atlantic  Cable,  257  et  seq. 
Atwater,  Henry  H.,  253,  265 
Atzerodt,  George  A.,  83,  370 
et  seq. 

B 

Baker,  Edward  D.,  93  et  seq. 

Baldwin,  George  W.,  46 

Barr,  Samuel  F.,  21 

Battle  of  Antietam,  142;  Bull 
Run,  88,  118;  Chickamauga, 
158;  Fort  Stevens,  250;  Fred- 
ericksburg  (campaign),  58; 
Gettysburg,  154;  Nashville, 
310;  Stone's  River,  159; 
Vicksburg  (siege),  155;  Wil 
derness,  244 

Beauregard,  P.  T.,  91 

Beckwith,  Samuel  H.,  8,  56,  344 
et  seq.,  372  et  seq. 

Beecher,  Henry  Ward,  241,  344 

Bell,  Isaac,  402 

Benjamin,  Judah  P.,  72  et  seq., 
81,  85,  294,  305 

Black  Hawk  War,  122 

Blair,  Francis  P.,  Sr.,  324  et 
seq. 

Boker,  George  H.,  225 

Booth,  Edwin,  307 

Booth,  John  Wilkes,  83,  306, 
369,  378 

Booth,  Junius  Brutus,  307 

Bovay,  A.  E.,  150 

Bowers,  T.  S.,  187,  344,  358 

Boyd,  Joseph  W.,  47 

Bragg,    General,    163   et   seq. 

Bragg,  Thomas,  153 

Bright,  John,  196 


Brough,  John,  136,  401 
Brown,  Samuel  M.,  14 
Buell,  M.  V.  B.,  47,  212 
Burnside,  Ambrose  E.,  58  et 

seq.,  287 

Burt,  Silas  W.,  190 
Bushnell,  C.  S.,  247 
Butler,  Benjamin  F.,  19,  21,  28, 

86 


Cable,  Atlantic,  257  et  seq.;  to 
Gulf  of  Mexico,  257  et  seq. 

Cadwallader,  General,  237,  238 

Caldwell,  A.  H.,  56,  107,  346 

Cameron,    Simon,   16,   20,   54, 
88,  277 

Cammack,  J.  H.,  72  et  seq. 

Campbell,  J.  A.,  322  et  seq., 
362,  363 

Carnegie,  Andrew,  14,  20,  92, 
173    179    311 

Carpenter,'  F.  B.,  141,  189,  210 

Chandler,  Albert  Brown,  Lin 
coln  at  Fort  Stevens,  252; 
Lincoln's  anxiety  after  Get 
tysburg,  157;  Lincoln's  last 
despatch,  362;  on  duty  night 
of  April  14,  1865,  371;  oper 
ates  new  signals,  265 

Chase,  Salmon  P.,  143 

Cheney,  J.  W.,  39 

Chittenden,  L.  E.,  401 

Church,  W.  C.,  117 

Cipher-codes,  Confederate,  68; 
Federal,  49 

Clay,  Clement  C.,  80  et  seq., 
291  et  seq. 

Clowry,  Robert  C.,  35 

Cochrane,  269 

Colburn,  A.  V.,  107 

Confederate,  attempt  to  burn 
New  York,  299;  cipher-codes, 
68;  operator  on  Union  wire, 


427 


INDEX 


59  et  seq.;  secret  service,  181, 
287 

Conover,  San  ford,  308 

Conventions  of  1864,  Demo 
cratic,  August,  270;  Inde 
pendent,  May,  269;  Repub 
lican,  June,  267 

Cooper,  Edward,  271 

Corbett,  Boston,  375 

Corning,  Erastus,  288 

Crazy  grams,  170 


D 

Dahlgren,  John  A.,  28,  86,  344 
Dana,  Charles  A.,  39,  75,  78,  82, 

84,  161,  172,  189,  204,  358,  379 
Davis,  Admiral,  265 
Davis,  Jefferson,  79,  83  et  seq., 

182,  203,  205,  289  et  seq.,  325 

et  seq. 

Davis,  Mrs.  Jefferson,  351 
Dealy,  William  J.,  360 
Dimmick,  Colonel,  265 
Dix,  John  A.,  230,  238,  300 
Dodge,  Granville  M.,  9 
Doherty,  E.  P.,  373 
Doolittle,  James  R.,  155 
Draft  Riots  in  New  York,  168 
Draper,  Simeon,  402 

Duer,  ,  402 

Dwight,  John  H.,  265 


corps  to  Tennessee,  176; 
saved  from  Southern  mob, 
126;  superintends  gold-mine 
in  North  Carolina,  125;  with 
holds  despatches  from  Lin 
coln,  95,  132;  withholds 
Grant's  despatch  removing 
Thomas,  316 

Eckert,  William  H.,  346 

Edwards,  R.  C.,  237 

Electoral  Vote  of  1860  and 
1864,  281 

Ellsworth,  Elmer  E.,  8,  29 

Elwood,  Isaac  R.,  125 

Ericsson,  John,  117 

European  recognition  of  the 
South,  160 


Farragut,  Admiral,  355 
Felton,  Samuel  M.,  177 
Field,  Cyrus  W.,  257 
Fisher,  Horace  N.,  159 
Forsyth,  Captain,  66 
Foster,  General,  151  et  seq. 
Fox,  Gustavus  V.,  143,  344 
France,  recognition  of  the 

South,  159 

Franklin,  William  B.,  250 
Fremont,  John  C.,  269 


E 

Early's  Raid,  250 

Eckert,  George,  126 

Eckert,  Thomas  Thompson,  ap 
pointed  major,  137;  arrested 
as  Northern  spy,  130;  at 
Lincoln's  death-bed,  371;  at 
McClellan's  headquarters,  94, 
104,  107,  111,  132;  breaks 
poker  over  his  arm,  131; 
chief  of  War  Department 
Telegraph  Staff,  124;  helps 
to  frustrate  attempt  to 
burn  New  York,  299;  inter 
views  with  Payne,  the  assas 
sin,  379;  Peace  Conference 
negotiations,  334;  proposes 
plan  for  moving  Hooker's 


Garfield,  James  A.,  161 
Garrett,  John  W.,  177 
Gillmore,  Quincy  A.,  28,  275 
Gilmore,  James  R.,  27 
Gladstone,  William  E.,  6 
Gold,  high  market  price  of,  230 
Grant,   General   U.    S.,   accepts 
and  declines  Lincoln's  invita 
tion    to    attend    theater,    365, 
366 ;      appointed      lieutenant- 
general,  244;  favorite  saddle- 
horses,  348;  invites  Lincoln  to 
visit   City  Point,  343;   learns 
of      Lincoln's      assassination, 
372;    leaves    City    Point    for 
Washington,    364;    "Let    the 
fur  fly,"  346 
Gray,  John  P.,  152 


428 


INDEX 


Great   Britain,   recognition   of 

South,  159,  160 
Greeley,  Horace,  291,  292 
Green,'  John  A.,  297 


H 

Hackett,  James  H.,  223 

Hall,  Edward  A.,  2TO 

Halleck,     Henry     Wager,     143, 

155,  174  et  seq.,  311  el  sr.q. 
Hamilton,  George  A.,  237 
Hamlin,  Hannibal,  268 
Hardie,  James  A.,  249,  362 
Hardin,  M.  D.,  253-254 
Harlan,  Secretary,  187 
Harrison,  Burton  N.,  203 
Hatter,  John  C.,  365,  371,  386, 

387 

Haupt,  Herman,  119  et  seq. 
Hay,  John,  30,  275,  283,  291 
Helms,  General,  163 
Henry,  Joseph,  265 
Herold,  David,  369,  379 
Hewitt,  Abram  S.,  270 
Hill,  Adams,  242 
Hill,  Benjamin  H.,  72  et  seq. 
Hill,  Frederick  Trevor,  6 
Hitchcock,  General,  112 
Holcombe,  J.  P.,  85,  291  et  seq 

Holmes, ,  297 

Holt,  Joseph,  293,  309 

Hone, ,  402 

Hood,  General,  310 
Hooker,  Joseph,  175  et  seq. 
Hooper,  Samuel,  395,  402 
Howard,  General,  9 
Howard,  Joseph,  239  et  seq. 
Howe,  Julia  Ward,  225 
Howell,  A.,  181 
Hunter,  R.  M.  T.,  322 


Ingalls,  Rufus,  64 


Jackson,  Andrew,  6 
Jackson,  M.  M.,  296,  299 
Janvier,  Francis  de  Haes,  £ 
Jaques,  Charles  WT.,  92,  93 


Jefferson,  Thomas,  6 

Johnson,  A.  E.  H.,  48,  81,  109, 

112,    146,    195,   313,   323,   389, 

395 
Johnson,  Andrew,  130,  267,  321, 

370,  384,  395 
Johnston,  Joseph  E.,  69 

K 

Keene,  Laura,  365 

Keith,   Alexander,   Jr.,   72  et 

seq. 

Kelley,  William  D.,  224 
Kellog,  Sanford  Cobb,  170 
Kellogg,  Mrs.  F.  B.,  170 
Kelton,  J.  C.,  68 
Kennedy,  Robert  C.,  304 
Kennedy,  superintendent  of 

police',  300 

"Kerr,  Orpheus  C.,"  186  et  seq. 
Kettles,  William  E.,  360 


Laird,  Thomas  A.,  360,  371 

Learning,  Wallace,  238 

Lee,  Robert  E.,  182,  205,  402 

Lieber,  Francis,  203 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  Atlantic 
cable,  recommends,  257;  brief 
national  career,  6;  calls  Stan- 
ton  "Mars,"  400;  commends 
Grant,  123;  commends  Rose- 
crans,  159,  162;  commends 
Thomas,  169,  320;  dates, 
method  of  determining,  345; 
dissatisfaction  with  McClel- 
lan,  101  et  seq.;  dissatisfac 
tion  with  Meade,  156;  dreams, 
influenced  by,  215;  estimate 
of  1864  electoral  vote,  279; 
forebodings  of  defeat  in 
1864,  267;  Fort  Stevens,  at 
Battle  of,  252;  last  horseback 
ride,  350;  last  story  told  in 
telegraph  office,  206;  last 
telegraphic  despatch,  362 ; 
lecture  on  "Discoveries  and 
Inventions,"  222;  love  for  his 
children,  208;  love  of  Shak- 
spere,  223,  226;  manner  con- 


429 


INDEX 


trasted  with  that  of  Stanton, 
389;  Morse  telegraph  ex 
plained,  4;  patent  of  1849, 
118;  plays  game  of  marbles, 
399; 

proclamations :     bogus,     228 ; 
Emancipation,      138,      142, 
275;  fast  days,  154, 198;  Re 
construction,    275 ;    thanks 
giving,  156,  164,  166; 
religious    beliefs,    215;    Rus 
sian  Overland  Telegraph,  257 ; 
signals,    witnesses    trials     of 
new,  265,  266; 

stories  and  quaint  sayings: 
Artemus  Ward,  143,  187; 
Cave  of  Adullam,  193; 
Colt's  revolvers  growing  in 
to  horse-pistols,  113;  "Down 
to  raisins,"  41;  "Have  I 
hunkered  you  out  of  your 
chair?"  201;  "Knee-deep 
and  a  sixpence,"  206;  Nas- 
by,  186;  "Not  good  luck 
when  he  can't  get  a  bite," 
200;  Orpheus  C.  Kerr,  188; 
"Short-legged  man  in  big 
overcoat,"  207;  "Small  po 
tatoes  and  few  in  a  hill," 
266;  "Spread  out,  spread 
out,"  385 ;  "The  ass  snuff  eth 
up  the  east  wind,"  185; 
"The  fox  reformed  and  be 
came  a  paymaster,"  212; 
"Then  you  avoid  colli 
sions,"  204;  Tom  Hood's 
spoiled  child,  198 ;  two  bark 
ing  dogs  separated  by 
fence,  115; 

swear  words,  201,  202;  tele 
graph  office  his  resting- 
place,  3 

Lincoln,    Edward    Baker,    208; 
Robert     T.,     67,     214,     328; 
Thomas    ("Tad"),   208;   Wil 
liam    ("Willie"),  209 
Locke,  David  R.   ("Nasby"), 

284 

Logan,  John  A.,  310  et  seq. 
Loucks,  T.  N.,  254 
Lowell,  James  Russell,  4 
Lowry,  David,  310 


M 

McCallum,  D.  C.,  177  et  seq. 

McCargo,  David,  14 

McClellan,  George  B.,  charges 
Stanton  with  causing  failure 
of  campaign,  109;  Democrats 
plan  his  nomination  for 
Presidency,  161 ;  disagree 
ments  with  Administration, 
101  et  seq.;  succeeds  Winfield 
Scott  as  commanding  gen 
eral,  97 

McClure,  A.  K.,  205,  223 

McDowell,  Irwin,  88  et  seq. 

Mallison,  F.  H.,  239 

Marcy,  R.  B.,  105,  107 

Marks,  Albert  S.,  160 

Mason  and  Slidell,  98  et  seq. 

Mason,  Michael,  71 

Maximilian,  154 

Maxwell,  Robert  A.,  167  et 
seq. 

Maynard,  George  C.,  371 

Meigs,  M.  C.,  12,  177  et  seq. 

Minturn,  ,  402 

Mitchell,  Ormsby  M.,  19 

Monitor  and  Merrimac,  115,  259 

Morgan,  Senator,  274 

Morley,  R.  F.,  22 

Morse  telegraph,  4,  11,  124 

Morton,  Oliver  P.,  199,  398 

Mucld,  Samuel,  373  et  seq. 

Murdoch,  James  E.,  224  et  seq. 

Murray,  inspector  of  Police, 
300 

N 

Napoleon,  Bonaparte,  6;  Louis, 
154 

"Nasby"  (David  R.  Locke),  186 
et  seq.,  284 

National  thanksgiving  day,  first 
ever  appointed  in  United 
States,  166;  second,  156; 
third,  164 

Nevada  admitted  to  Union, 
281 

New  York  "Journal  of  Com 
merce"  editor  arrested,  232 

New  York  "World"  editor  ar 
rested,  232 


430 


INDEX 


Nicodemus,  Colonel,  265 
Nicolay  and  Hay's  "Lincoln," 

40,  116,  193,  275,  313 
Nicolay,  John  G.,  227,  267,  276 
Norris,  William,  181 


O'Beirne,  James  R.,  373 
O'Brien,  John   E.,  150  et  seq.; 

Richard,  16,  36,  149  et  seq. 
O'Laughlin,  Michael,  365  et  seq. 
Ord,  E.  O.  C.,  327  et  seq. 
Osborn,  William  H.,  271 
Oyama,  Marshal,  12 


Painter,  Uriah  H.,  247 

Payne,  the  assassin,  83,  370  et 
seq. 

Peace,  agreement,  Sherman- 
Johnston,  395  et  seq.;  Confer 
ence,  292,  322  et  seq. 

Pemberton,  General,  69  et  seq. 

Pen  rose,  Captain,  354 

Phillips,  Wendell,  269 

Pickens,  Governor,  129 

Pierpoint,  Governor,  361 

Plum,  William  R.,  37,  50  et  seq. 

Pope,  John,  111  et  seq.,  118  et 
seq. 

Porter,  Admiral,  354  et  seq. 

Porter,  Fitz-John,  167 

Potts,  John,  131 

Prime,  William  C.,  110 

Puleston,  ,  247 

R 

Rathbone,  Major,  accompanies 
Lincoln  to  Ford's  Theater, 
368,  369 

Rawlins,  John  A.,  314,  319 

Read,  T.  Buchanan,  225 

Reid,  Whitelaw,  247 

Reynolds,  J.  P.,  20 

Ricketts,  General,  251 

Righton,  Mrs.  Starke  A.,  153 

Roberts,  M.  S.,  230 

Robinson,  Jesse  H.,  237 

Rosecrans,  W.  S.,  158  et  seq., 
172  et  seq. 


Rosewater,  Edward,  27 
Rucker,  D.  H.,  106 


Sanborn,  Anson  L.,  150 

Sanderson,  J.  P.,  26 

Sanford,  Edwards  S.,  35, 108  et 
seq.,  133,  233 

Saunders,  George  N.,  85,  291  et 
seq. 

Schenck,  Robert  C.,  113 

Schoef,  A.,  47 

Schofield,  J.  M.,  312 

Schurz,  Carl,  184 

Scott,  N.  B.,  13;  Thomas  A., 
20,  26,  88,  93,  177  et  seq.; 
Winfield,  26,  87,  88,  97,  102 

Sedden,  James  A.,  153,  181 

Seward,  William  H.,  228  et  seq., 
296,  329  et  seq.,  359,  370 

Seymour,  Horatio,  168,294*  et  seq. 

Shaw,  Leslie  M.,  255 

Shepley,  General,  356  et  seq. 

Sheridan,  Philip  H.,  63  et  seq. 

Sherman,  William  T.,  311 

Sickles,  Daniel  E.,  9 

Simpson,  Matthew,  210,  216 

Smith,  William  P.,  177  et  seq. 

Spangler,  Edward,  369  et  seq., 
379 

Stager,  Anson,  31  et  seq.,  49,  50 

Stanton,  Edwin  M.,  accepts 
Eckert's  resignation,  407;  ap 
pointment  as  Chief  Justice 
proposed,  402;  asks  Lincoln 
to  call  cabinet  meeting  Sep 
tember  23,  1863,  173;  coun 
try's  neglect  in  not  erecting 
a  monument  to  his  memory, 
402;  death,  402;  denounces 
Sherman-Johnston  agree 

ment,  396;  General  Orders  to 
Army,  April  16,  1865,  282, 
374;  his  manner  contrasted 
with  Lincoln's,  389;  nick 
named  "Mars"  by  Lincoln, 
400;  plays  "mumble-the-peg," 
398;  throws  Lincoln's  card 
into  waste-basket,  391 ;  urges 
Lincoln  to  abandon  theater- 
party,  366 

Stanton,  Lewis,  398 


431 


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